


Under the Mountain

by MeckaMecka



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3, Undertale
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Flashbacks, Gen, Time Manipulation, Time Travel, Undertale Setting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29191515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeckaMecka/pseuds/MeckaMecka
Summary: One day, the barrier to the outside world sealed them in. An entire civilization living beneath a mountain, cut from the outside world. You are born in the Underground, and then you die in the Underground. (Wait, what game was this supposed to be again?)The Lone Wanderer, eager to find a new purpose after the end of Fallout 3, sets out on an adventure, only to come across Mt. Ebott and a young child named FriskNow trapped beneath the earth (again), the Lone Wanderer must find her way out of a cavern filled with deadly creatures, mutants, and lovable monsters as she and her trusted canine companion Dogmeat go through a treacherous path that has a much darker secret glitched just under the surface.
Relationships: Lone Wanderer & Dogmeat, past Toriel/Asgore





	1. Death(claw) Mountain

**Author's Note:**

> NOTES:
> 
> Since this is the first chapter, I'll explain my system. Changes or comments I make are marked in the chapter with a [(#)]. These correspond to the [#-] down in the NOTES section in the after chapter. Any canon breaks I make are 'usually' explained there as well.
> 
> Any questions you have should be answered in following chapters, but it will sometimes be difficult keeping the individual plot-things straight. Sometimes canon needs to be twisted a little to fit the plot, so expect a little of that - I'm not going to go crazy with that, though.
> 
> So buckle up, I'm about to take you for a semi-realistic but earnest attempt to blend these two properties together.
> 
> -0-
> 
> DISCLAIMER:
> 
> -only gonna say it once, though eventually I might make a 'cover chapter' with all of them-
> 
> I do not own Fallout nor Undertale. (Could you imagine though - Toby Fox writing fanfiction about his own game? No wonder Deltarune is taking forever!)
> 
> Also, no beta. Raise any editing issues in the comments and I'll fix it. I'm going to be continually updating as I go forward with the story until I feel satisfied with it, so you might need to read from the beginning whenever I update. It's already going to take a lot of time between uploads to write chapters out, so I guess people will need to refresh their memories anyways.
> 
> The quotes I put in the beginning/inside the chapters are meant to put you in a certain mindset, so keep that in mind when you see them.
> 
> Enjoy~

"Have you even seen a Deathclaw? They're taller than a man and far, far stronger and faster. And, there's a whole pack of them out there. You'd have to be the meanest, toughest, roughest bastard in the wasteland to have any chance against them, and I don't think that's you."

― _Chomps Lewis_ , Fallout: New Vegas

-0-

"Why did you come here? Everyone knows the legend, right...? 'Travellers who climb Mt. Ebott are said to disappear.' Frisk. Why would you ever climb a mountain like that? Was it foolishness? Was it fate? Or was it... Because you...? Well. Only you know the answer, don't you...?"

― _Asriel Dreemur_ , Undertale

**-0-0-0-**

DIAL CLICK

* _static fading into upbeat music_ *

_Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: HUMANS -KRTZ-_

_One day, WAR broke out between the two races._

_After a long battle, the -KRTZ- were victorious._

_They sealed the -KRTZ- underground with a -KRTZ-_

_-garbled noise-_

* _radio static_ *

**-0-0-0-**

Rin frowned, pushing up her sweaty goggles to stare at the rolling static of her Pip-Boy screen. Just when she found a station that broadcasted something other than some 'classic' or 'patriotic' station, her Pip-Boy glitches. All 'Boys flickered from time to time - no matter the level of care and maintenance, they were old machines. Glitches like this have occurred from time to time, but this static felt... different.

(She firmly ignored the ache in her chest the words on the radio drama caused. Sometimes she wished for nothing more than to be back in the vault, well protected from behind solid steel in her hermetically sealed, radiation-insulated underground vault. But she was an exile, and would never be welcome back to the isolated, innocent, and sheltered life the Vault offered.)

Regardless of 'feelings', whatever was wrong with it would have to wait until there was time. The open roads of the Wasteland were no place to fix her precious equipment. She'd crack it open to examine the components when she could, in a nice secure building after a scavenged meal, but she needed to be in a secure location first. Fortunately, for now, there was a simple fix.

With a liberal use of percussive maintenance (i.e., whacking the damn thing and hoping the static stopped; sometimes mechanical engineering was NOT an exact science), the screen flickered back to normal. It sounded like she'd lost the radio signal anyway, or the story's broadcast was shorter than she'd thought, because now the station was playing yet another repeat of the _Yankee Doodle_ diddy with a set of patriotic tin flutes. Turning off the radio with a loud click of the dial, Rin adjusted her goggles and the rifle slung over her shoulder before whistling sharply.

Running up to her side from behind, her faithful companion Dogmeat chuffed happily at her. In a blue bandana, custom leather armor, and goggles, her canine companion was the only one who stayed by her side when she left the Capital Wasteland, and now remained as her sole companion on her trudge throughout the shithole that was once known as the east coast of the United States. Patting his head fondly, the one known as the Lone Wanderer continued down the broken and crumbling asphalt road of the highway.

Meanwhile, the overhead traffic road signs were unreadable static, flickering black and white with occasional flashes of letters. The sign suddenly flickered slowly to a stop.

_Ebott, XX miles._

**-0-0-0-**

A radio transmission broadcasted out on the airwaves, received only by a radio in a metal room filled with feral ghouls who scratched at the walls.

* _Many years later..._ *

**-0-0-0-**

Sitting up with a start, Rin aimed her pistol into the empty room. After several moments of aiming her gun, she lowered her weapon with a sigh. Setting the gun on the mattress, she yawned before rubbing her eyes tiredly. She sat up on the somewhat-clean mattress (totally clean beds, that were complete with actual sheets and everything, were a rare luxury even in communities), and stretched her back.

Checking the time on her Pip-Boy, it seemed as if she still had about forty minutes till seven a.m., which was when she had originally set her timer. She idly switched it off with a frown. _So why did_ -

The room shook with the sound of an explosion outside. Swearing, she grabbed her gun and snuck to the window.

The empty roads of the cul-de-sac shook as the large, horned lizard beast raged. It was at least twelve feet tall with wicked black horns that jutted forward from its skull and curved back into a sort-of halo.

Pacing the streets, the grey-colored deathclaw suddenly picked up a flaming car with a single hand. Letting out a thundering roar, the beast threw the chunk of steel into a house, demolishing it instantly as the fusion core within detonated. Her Pip-Boy hummed on her wrist and identified it as a high-level legendary, skull-rated. How _wonderful_. What a _great_ start to her day. (1)

The neighborhood was at the base of a large forested mountain (which were brown and dead, as most all trees were nowadays) with an inactive satellite tower atop it. An empty house was a convenient place to sleep for the night - after clearing out the infestations of bugs and mole rats, the serene feeling of the valley was almost idyllic. She had intended to scavenge what she could in the neighborhood before trekking up to activate the tower and then head to the city, though, judging by the rampaging deathclaw outside, she would have to rethink that plan.

Watching from the second story window as it circled the neighborhood, Rin grimaced as it threw a rusted chunk of metal, formerly known as a lawnmower, at an empty building, putting a large hole through it and (from what she could see in the hole) partially collapsing its second floor. She needed to leave without taking on the beast outside, because she was desperately low on ammo. What few rounds she had left for her rifle and handgun had no chance in hell for taking that monster down, and using the last Mini Nuke round was a last-ditch measure: if it didn't kill it in one shot, it would mutate it, making it much, _much_ stronger, which would be a disaster. (2)

(And probably result in her _insides_ becoming _outsides_ )

The deathclaw chucked another car, roaring angrily as it detonated and collapsed a house two doors down from where she was. She decided she needed to leave _now_ , or else the beast would bring the building down on top of them.

Rin shouldered her satchel and went down the stairs, and was met by Dogmeat panting anxiously. She shushed him softly as she continued on to the back door. Grabbing the handle on the back of his armor to keep him close (and so he didn't run off to attack the Deathclaw, because he _absolutely would,_ if given the chance), she opened the door quietly and moved with him across the yard.

They ducked behind the white picket fence line right before the building behind them exploded: the deathclaw charging through, destroying the house in seconds. Temporarily hidden by the dust cloud, they ducked through a large gap in the fence boards.

Sneaking along the fence line with Dogmeat, Rin ran her free hand through her grenade pouch to check her supply. With a quick distraction, they'd make it into the mountain's tree line, but it would also leave her with only three grenades.

Hearing the thundering footsteps coming close, Rin pulled the pin and threw behind her as far as she could. _Six._ Sneaking along the fence line until she was as close as possible, _five,_ she paused and started to think.

 _Four._ The tree line was at least 70 feet off. Which was bad.

 _Three._ The beast would _definitely_ see them running in the time it took to cross. Even worse.

 _Two._ They would just have to run very, _very_ fast then, wouldn't they?

 _One._ The grenade detonated, attracting the raging beast's attention. It charged towards the site, ground quaking beneath its feet.

 _Go._ Rin ran for the treeline; Dogmeat needed very little encouragement to sprint beside his master. But, even at a full sprint, they were still only halfway through the tree line before she heard the deathclaw discover her.

The trees would hopefully stop him. Judging by how intent the deathclaw seemed to eat her face, however, she guessed that this was not the case. They would just have to keep ahead of it, and it would hopefully lose interest in them... probably.

**-0-0-0-**

The old jukebox's lights flickered as it played the transmission to a decaying room filled with ancient skeletons.

* _Mt. Ebott_ *

**-0-0-0-**

Coming to a stop in the shade of a tree, Rin put her hands on her knees and started to gasp for air. Catching a glimpse of the Pip-Boy screen, she groaned. She had been trying to escape that bastard for _five fucking hours._ After her initial escape, the grenade distraction method unfortunately never worked again (and did fuck-all damage, when she tried to hit it), which left her with only one grenade and one _very pissed off_ ten-foot-tall lizard monster.

This particular deathclaw seemed dead set on killing her. Every time she hid, it tracks her, destroying everything in its path to get to her. She needed to dodge flying trees more than once. It didn't help that the trees seemed to become incredibly thick the further up the mountain she went, to the point that it forced her to go downhill.

' _Which about describes my life right now.'_ She snorted at her own joke, causing another harsh coughing fit. As it subsided, she decided that she needed to keep moving - it was probably ridiculous to assume the deathclaw was still hunting her after getting away, but she would rather be safe than dead.

What she really needed to find was a way up the mountain to get to that radio tower. There had to be some kind of maintenance path up to the top of the mountain, though she had not seen any during her escape. Her best shot was probably making her way to the base of the mountain to look there. And, with her luck, it'd probably be on the other side of the mountain entirely.

Looking for her dog, she found him a small distance ahead, panting tiredly on the clay of what looked like an obvious trail leading up the mountain. Rin looked at Dogmeat blandly, to which he thumped his tail on the ground happily. Crouching down, she rubbed his head fondly before grabbing her canteen and taking a long, _heavenly_ drink.

Cupping her hand and pouring water into it to let Dogmeat sit up and drink, she stiffened slightly when she heard crunching footsteps and rustling from the bushes further up the path. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced and saw a head of hair disappearing behind some tall grass. If this was what she thought it was, then she was probably in a lot of trouble - it would not be the first time she had literally, and unknowingly, stumbled into some sort of ambush. But this time, she wouldn't let them act first.

"Hey boy," she whispered softly at her dog, who looked at her intently. She nodded slightly toward the bushes, "Fetch."

Dogmeat got to his feet in record time before sprinting at the bushes, jumping into them and knocking over whoever was there with a satisfying squeal and a whump. After securing her canteen while shaking her other hand dry, she then loosely aimed her handgun and started to approach the shuffling brush.

Pushing aside the dry foliage, Rin found Dogmeat standing over a child, snuffling around their face with an occasional lick. As amusing a scene as it was, she was simply stunned. It had been a long, _long_ time she had encountered any friendly people... well, _friendly_ as in anyone who wasn't trying to kill her, at least. But a child, especially since they were in the middle of what was essentially _nowhere,_ was concerning

Especially with the deathclaw in the area.

With that thought in mind, she shook herself out of her stupor. Holstering her weapon, she went around the bush and snapped her fingers sharply. "Dogmeat, come!"

Her faithful companion literally _skipped_ to her side, before bounding excitedly back over to the child, knocking them over again as they attempted to sit up. She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She supposed she couldn't have expected anything else, really. Her big, strong, and dangerous dog _loved_ children.

Grabbing his armor handle, she pulled him off. Now that Dogmeat wasn't hovering over them, the kid sat up and gave her a wary look. She gave them a smile - and internally grimaced in concern. They were maybe eight or nine with a sickly-looking yellowish skin. Though the large dirty blue-and-purple striped sweater hid most of their frame from view, judging by their thin, slightly-sunken face and eyes, they were definitely starving, and probably dehydrated. This exceeded all of her medical supplies, but she _could_ help them until they got to a doctor.

Holding Dogmeat firmly behind her (he whined pitifully and struggled), Rin crouched and offered the kid cautiously watching her a smile. The kid looked like they were about to run at the slightest hint of trouble, so she had to approach this carefully.

"Hey sorry kid, my dog here just ran away from me suddenly. Guess he was really excited to meet'cha, huh?" The kid nodded with a slight smile as they got to their feet. "I was kinda surprised to see him run of like that. He didn't hurt ya, did he?" A hesitant shake of the head. "That's good then! I'm... well, you can just call me Rin, and ya might have heard that _this_ dork's name is Dogmeat." She said fondly, shaking him lightly by his armor. "He's not _usually_ that much trouble, so I'm real sorry 'bout that. But between you and me, he's really just-" Dogmeat suddenly _pulled._

Crouching while keeping hold of a dog is, upon reflection, a _very_ bad idea. Off-balance, Rin tipped sideways into the brambles of the bushes that the child had originally hidden behind. (3)

Swearing under her breath, she finally stood out of the uncooperative foliage, she started to pull loose branches out from the chinks her armor as she found Dogmeat wagging his tail happily. The stood next to him, petting his neck softly. Feeling her anger melt away, Rin huffed and glared playfully at her dog. "I was going to say attention hog, but I can think of a couple of other things to call you right now. You're _really_ proud of yourself, aren't you?"

Dogmeat whuffed in agreement, making the kid laugh as Rin scowled at her rather intelligent companion. Her dog usually seemed to understand what she was saying, and followed any orders he was given given - but he was also extremely mischievous. But he also had a big weakness.

"That's fine then," Rin said with exaggerated distain as she turned away. "Just for that, I'm going to have to share my extra deer jerkey with someone else."

The canine whined pitifully as the kid giggled softly, consoling Dogmeat by petting him.

Suddenly, an angry, echoing roar shook the forest, scattering the mangy ravens in the trees with a shower of dirty black feathers. Dogmeat was instantly on alert, standing in stoic silence as the small child hugged his neck tightly.

Rin froze in place as she started working the problem frantically in her mind. From what she could tell from her earlier run, the path she was on was probably the _only_ path that led further up the mountain. And until she got to the mountain top to check, she would just have to assume this was the only way up - and the only way down.

However, judging by the _two_ answering roars echoing from downhill that shook the earth, going up was going to be their only option.

Grabbing her rifle from off her back, Rin crouched in front of the crouched again. "We don't have much time, and we're going to need to move fast. Think you're up for a piggy back ride, kid?"

They looked surprised before nodding. Running around, they jumped and latched their small arms around her neck in a death-grip. Standing, she helped the kid adjust with a wince - they had a surprisingly strong grip. Then, she started to run, Dogmeat faithfully at her heels.

After a few minutes of running in silence, Rin cleared her throat. "So, uh anyways, I just realized I forgot to ask you your name back there. I won't be able to get away with calling ya 'kid' or 'hey, you!' forever." She joked.

She felt them giggle before becoming quiet. She waited a long moment, and was about to break the silence when the kid whispered their name softly. "Frisk, eh?" She said with a small smile. "I think that's a very nice name."

**-0-0-0-**

A long-forgotten screen on the wall of a hidden lab filled with abominations flashed as it registered a new variable.

* _22XX_ *

**-0-0-0-**

They had been on the trail for about an hour or two, and had been making good distance away from the encroaching monsters. At least, that was until the trail hit a dead end.

Frisk jump off her back as she came to a stop, though Rin felt it over the growing pit of icy dread her stomach had become. When they had been running the path, she noticed that the mountain had many more cliffs and sheer drops than she had expected such a mountain to have. Unfortunately, while the path had led to further up the mountain, the trail ended at a rock wall. Though there was a small cave, it was shallow, and from what she could tell there was nowhere to go other than the dark pit that even the light of her Pip-Boy could not pierce..

They were trapped. And they were still being hunted.

Swearing, she quickly searched her Pip-Boy for _anything_ that would help, but came up with only one option. Equipping her seldom-used mini-nuke launcher, Rin rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath _in_ and _out._

While loading her launcher, she decided to address her temporary charge. "Alrighty then kiddo, I'm gonna tell ya what's about to happen." She looked up. "We're gonna move back-" Her throat suddenly closed.

Standing at the edge of a hole inside the cave, Frisk stood precariously close to the edge of a large hole. It had been hidden in the dark shadows, the perilous, pitch black hole in the ground. They stood unnaturally still for a moment before starting to sway forward.

Dropping her weapon to the ground, Rin suddenly _moved._ Running over to the hole, she slid and grabbed Frisk around their waist and pulled them into a firm hug. The kid struggled fiercely in her grip as she used her legs to push them away from the hole. When they were a good distance away, she stopped and held the struggling child and waited.

When Frisk stopped struggling, she slowly started releasing her firm hug. Rin sighed and held them in a regular hug for a moment before releasing them completely. Grabbing their upper arm, she picked them up and placed them on their feet before spinning them around (so they could no longer see the hole). Grabbing their shoulders, she shook them firmly.

"What the hell, kid? You can't just do that, ok?" Frisk's glassy eyes blinked up at her for a moment before they shook their head. Rubbing at their eyes, they offered a quiet apology. Rin frowned in concern and hugged them to hide her grimace.

Dogmeat growled angrily from the mouth of the cave, startling both of them. She cursed - _out of time._ Feeling the approaching footsteps, Rin stood and whistled for Dogmeat who quickly jogged over. Ushering him next to Frisk, she had them place a hand on his back handle.

She gave them a tight smile at their confused look. "Whatever happens, just... keep him right behind me, ok? Can I trust you to keep my dog safe?" They nodded, and she ruffled their hair. Grabbing the launcher, Rin placed herself between her two charges and the cave entrance and shouldered her weapon.

If she missed her shot, hit the cavern wall, she could kill them all in the warhead's blast.

Their tension as the earthquake-like footsteps outside stopped suddenly. Rin cautiously moved the group a couple steps backwards (unfortunately _towards_ the hole, but there was nowhere else to go) and braced herself for the rocket's kickback. After a couple moments of silence, long fingers snaked around the rock and curved around the mouth of the cave. Rin held her breath as the deathclaw who had started the chase started to slowly round the corner as well

Without warning, the wall of rock on the either side of the natural doorway exploded inwards. Two deathclaws barreled through the solid rock, running straight towards the small group.

The next moments felt as if they were in slow motion.

Rin re-aimed the launcher even as the ground beneath them started to crack with the force of the deathclaws' steps. As she pulled the trigger, she felt Frisk grab her jumpsuit and _pull_ as the stone crumbled beneath her feet _._ Off-balance, the launcher lifted as it fired, narrowly grazing the head of the deathclaw - and instead hit the ceiling. The sharp crack of the rock was almost inaudible above the sound of the blast.

The shockwave hit her like a punch to the skull and knocked her into the inky blackness of unconsciousness as the Deathclaws screeched and bellowed.

**-0-0-0-**

A being who may have once been a man tilted his head as something unusual occurred.

* _Ancient legends say that those who climb the mountain never return._ *

**-0-0-0-**

* * *

**-0-0-0-**

**NOTES:**

1- Inspired-inspired by an actual Fallout event I experienced. Cleared out a neighborhood, went to sleep on second floor, and boom- hardass deathclaw outside, and I woke to the shaking the ground of angry deathclaw... who threw several cars when I first tried to run. Why he hadn't triggered the previous day, I don't know. Maybe it didn't trigger properly until sleeping let it, but it was typical Bethesda wonkiness. I eventually killed him with literally all of my grenades, rarely-used explosives, and bullets I had on me, but was mostly out of spite at that point.

2- Honestly, if this was true, people would have to stop killing Deathclaws that way. Personally, if i see a Big Boi Deathclaw like that charging at me, i just distance myself, pull out my Fat Man launcher, aim, *wa-funk *, BIG BOOM, dead. So, it's a bit of a headcannon. Besides, legendary enemies in 4 always 'mutated' if not killed in the first couple shots (explained in my AN).

3- A very bad idea. I can still feel the almost-rugburn the cement gave me as I held onto my dog's collar. He had something in his mouth, I grabbed his collar, crouched to grab it, and continued to hold onto him as I looked at it. And when he tried to run around me to get to whatever-it-was, I fell rather hard. An unfortunate experience, but... Ehh... Knowing is half the battle I guess? Not going to do that again.


	2. Flower Power

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTES:
> 
> I apologize for taking so long to write this! I find it a bit difficult to write casual dialogue, so sorry if anything seems stilted. My muse was more interested in later chapters because this one is so slow in terms of plot. Also, None of this is pre-written, and I upload when I feel satisfied with the chapter.
> 
> But, now that this one's over, we'll be able to get to the good stuff now. Hopefully my muse will be more interested now this plot filler is over with.
> 
> Disclaimers previously stated, and any additional warnings will be given as the story progresses, though I have been thinking about adding a 'cover page' filled with disclaimers to this story.
> 
> Such as:
> 
> -0-
> 
> DISCLAIMER:
> 
> There will be use of Fallout drugs. I do not condone drug use, though Fallout drugs ARE NOT REAL. Any drug descriptions are purely fictional (AKA made up), and do NOT work as described in the real world. Don't do it. I didn't want to have to state the obvious, but some people are going to complain anyways.
> 
> Enjoy!

**-0-0-0-**

"It's gotten to the point where that piece of shit from Vault 101 can't even be considered human. Am I right? Here's the latest on that Demon's Spawn."

— _Three Dog_ , Fallout 3

"Look, you're cute, but you're not the first Waster to threaten me and you won't be the last. Just clear out of town. We don't need your type here."

— _Winthrop_ , ghoul, Fallout 3

**-0-0-0-**

Rin awoke feeling like she was drowning, her whole body flaring in blinding pain as her back arched. Rolling onto her side, she propped herself up with an arm as she coughed into the ground, struggling to breathe. Dragging her free hand over to her equipment, she rooted around awkwardly until she finally grabbed hold of a Stimpack. Her vision was starting to fade when she finally managed to stab it into her thigh. The burning itch in her lungs faded into a warm, tingling numbness as it worked through her system (1).

Wheezing, she wiped her mouth with the back of her jumpsuit sleeve, grimacing when the fabric came away stained red. Something warm and soft trailed across her face, followed by a familiar whine. With a shaking hand, Rin reached up and scratched Dogmeat's ear reassuringly.

Sitting up, Rin hissed as pain seared through her ribs. Injecting a med-X (a pain killer, like morphine) into her thigh, she waited for the last painful spasms to ease. Powering on her Pip-Boy, the screen flickered and rolled as something buzzed like a florescent bulb inside it, but thankfully it was stopped with a firm tap to the side.

Scanning through her Status, she grimaced when her torso registered as _CRIPPLED._ She didn't need to check her Inventory to know that she had no equipment to deal with it. While the penalty to her **E** ndurance would be a pain in the ass to deal, she would have to live with it until she found a medic.

She quickly checked her Pip-Boy map and snorted. This cave system is called 'The Underground'? _Ah, probably_ _wouldn't have noticed the mountain above me if it wasn't pointed out_. Unfortunately, since they couldn't get out the way they came, they would just have to keep following the caves until they reached the exit. (And if there wasn't, Rin would just have to get _creative_ with her supplies and scavenged items to _make one)._

Powering down her Pip-Boy, she scanned the room. It was a small cave from what Rin could see of the light streaming from the doorway. Large boulders and mounds of rock debris littered the floor, covering the carpet of yellow flowers beneath her feet in a layer of brown earth. There was a single path of bright yellow flowers trailed away from her towards the cave exit - _Frisk_. They must have awoken before her and moved on to the next room.

Carefully stepping over the small patch of bloodied flowers at her feet, she grabbed her duffel bag - which thankfully hadn't landed too far from where she had - and followed after her (self-appointed) charge.

 _Must have collapsed the cave above us,_ Rin thought as she glanced upwards at the darkened ceiling. _Judging by the current lack of instant dismemberment, the Deathclaws either died in the explosion - which was unlikely, as they were high level; It'd take more than one hit to kill them at least, and I definitely didn't hit for critical_ _damage - or they died in the collapse. We'll need to be careful until we know for sure._

She gave a low whistle, and Dogmeat trotted up next to her. With a small flick of her wrist, he sprinted forward to scout out the next room. He paused at the doorway and suddenly snarled and took off. She swore and sprinted after him. Despite what his name might imply (and, of course, he wasn't going to be rendered into food - not on her watch), her dog was a remarkably gentle and happy. Whenever he reacted like _that_ , there was trouble.

Rin sprinted through the doorway and stumbled in surprise. Frisk held the handle on her dog's back and struggled to pull him back as he snarled into the darkness at the corner of the room. But he could adequately protect himself, so she wasn't too concerned about him for the moment.

"Frisk!" The kid jolted in surprise and looked at her with wide eyes. Taking advantage of the distraction, Dogmeat lunged forwards, and, as they were still gripping the handle, yanked Frisk to the ground, freeing himself to lunge into the darkness.

Rubbing the back of their head, Frisk sat up and looked at the snarling dog with wide eyes. Rin landed hard on her knees as she slid to a stop next to them.

"Hey, easy. Sit up slow." Rin reached into a pouch on her leg and turned her Pip-Boy screen's light onto the highest setting. "Look at me, alright?" She held her arm vertically and shined it in across their face, though she kept her focus on their eyes. _Pupil dilation normal._ "Now follow my finger?" _No unusual eye movements. No obvious signs of a concussion, but after a fall like that, they've got to be hurt or in shock. Being knocked down couldn't've helped, either._

Clicking off her Pip-Boy's light, she took their small (and very thin) hands in her own calloused ones. "We're gonna stand up now, ok?" They gave a hesitant nod, probably confused over the fuss she was showing, and grabbed her hand. Rin carefully pulled them to their feet.

"That was a pretty big fall back there, huh?" She asked as she stood, trying to dust off her muddy knees. "Are you sure you're ok? Doesn't hurt to breathe, or your head hurts, or-"

" _I'm_ _the one_ _being mauled_!" An angry voice interrupted. She tensed, putting a hand on her gun as she scanned the room - which was still empty, except for Dogmeat still running around the room barking.

"Hello?" she called out cautiously. Rin hadn't bothered checking on Dogmeat's target, since she both trusted him to handle the situation for the moment, and knew that she would be able to hear his distress if his target overwhelmed him. But everywhere Rin looked was empty, yet he was still aggressive, and still sprinting around the room. Not even the Pip-Boy's compass was indicating enemies nearby. _So where is-?_

The ground in front of the humans rumbled before a yellow flower erupted from the ground. _(Eh?)_

The flower _(what)_ grinned _(WHAT)_ up at them. "Howdy!" It greeted **_(WHAT)_** cheerfully. "I'm Flowey! Flowey the - gah!" It sucked into the ground as Dogmeat pounced upon the spot. He barked angrily and pawed at the ground the flower disappeared into. The flower popped up a few feet away and flared its petals angrily. "Call off your psycho dog already!"

Rin grabbed the handle on Dogmeat's back before he could sprint off again and clicked her tongue, which was a signal for him to stop and heel. To her immense surprise, he snarled and tried to wrestle himself away. In all the time they've spent together, after all of their repeated (mis)adventures, he had never disobeyed a direct command from her before. She swatted his rump in a quick reprimand, getting his attention away from the flower for a moment. She forced him to sit, and, though he sat protectively at his master's feet, his lips were pulled back from his teeth in an _almost_ silent snarl as he glared at the flower.

Said flower - what was its name again? Flowey? - was panting, face shadowed beneath its tattered and dirty petals. There was something distinctly off-putting about the flower, and Dogmeat's reaction to him amplified it; If he distrusted the flower to the point where he couldn't even listen to her, then she'd play it safe and try to move on quickly.

(Her Pip-boy buzzed, probably with info on the flower, but she didn't dare look away.)

"Thanks _pal_." The flower said with a smile that stretched its entire face. "I'm FLOWEY the FLOWER! You're _both_ new here, aren'tcha?"

 _No shit, we just fell down a massive hole,_ Rin thought snidely. _Just humor him for now for more information_. "So where exactly _is_ here?"

"Why, the UNDERGROUND of course! Golly, you _both_ must be so confused! _Someone_ ought to teach you both _how_ _things_ _work_ _down here_ , and, well, I guess little old _me_ will have to do! You both ready? Here we go!"

Rin gasped in surprise when a glowing heart emerged _from her chest_. The heart radiated the same familiar green light of her Pip-Boy as it hovered innocently in midair. Reaching out, she lightly brushed the heart with her fingertips. It was about the size of a baseball, and it felt... warm, like the first feeling of the sun on her skin. She smiled in remembrance, and the heart seemed to glow brighter.

"See that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!"

"Wait, this little thing is supposed to be my 'eternal soul'? From the things I've read, I always imagined a soul to be more like... a hypothetical, or at least a metaphor for the afterlife." She glanced at the heart cupped in her hand. "And, uh, maybe _less green?_ " she muttered quietly.

(It seemed as if Vault-Tec had sunk its claws in deep enough become part of her very being)

"It's *magic*, of course!" Flowey said with a petals flaring like jazz hands. "The colors are a manifestation of your strongest trait! The short one's red, which is DETERMINATION! Your SOUL is green, which stands for... KINDNESS...?"

Ignoring the flower, who looked to be lost in thought, she at the heart... her _soul_. If she were to describe herself as... Well, _kind_ wouldn't exactly register as a top priority. She ran her thumb over it thoughtfully, and its surface moved like ripples in a pond.

"Now, your SOUL starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV. What's LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course!"

She snorted, and coughed to disguise her incredulous laughter. _Oh, that's actually_ _adorable._ _Overpower your enemies with the power of love! That's all Mr. Deathclaw has ever wanted; a little kisskiss! Maybe he'll even turn into a prince!_

"Sorry, I think my allergies are starting to act up." She fought to keep the grin off her face as she apologized to the glaring flower. "Not used to all the, hah, _pollen_ , I guess. Not a lot of flowers where I'm from. So, uh, you were saying?"

Flowey replied after a _suspiciously_ long moment of silence. "It's alright!" It grinned with a touch too much fang in it to be completely sincere. "We were just getting to the important part! You see, it's actually just an acronym. **LOVE** stands for a **L** evels **O** f **V** iolenc **E,** a person's ability to kill others. And **you**... you're not just a murderer. You're a _demon."_

Frisk, who had been quietly examining their red soul, sharply glanced at her. Their eyebrows furrowed as if they could see into your soul for the answers (Hell, that's probably what they were trying to do. It was _supposedly_ right there, after all).

"Ya know, you're not the first one to call me that," Rin said with a wry smirk as she slowly slid her hand to her handgun. The little green heart seemed to pulse brighter in the same anticipation she felt. "But, here's the thing _buddy._ Anytime I've been told that, they all tried to do the same thing you're going to try now. And if you think you're gonna be the last, well..." She trailed off with a dark chuckle. "You'd be _dead_ _wrong_."

Flowers face twisted with rage, and several grenade-sized white objects appeared behind the flower and rocketed towards them. Rin quickly drew her gun and clicked a dial on her Pip-Boy. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the bullets stopped in midair, and Flowey's laugh became slow and distorted as **V.A.T.S.** ( **V** ault-Tec **A** ssisted **T** argeting **S** ystem) activated.

The system overlay marked the flower with a skull next to his name - in other words, _screwed_ _again._ With no ammo, the fight would be impossible trying to keep Frisk alive. When all else fails... onto Plan B.

Cycling through targets, Rin turned her attention to the projectiles (that - for some reason - VATS identified as 'friendliness pellets' when they were obviously anything but _friendly_ ) and aimed at the ones closest to the door. If she could make an opening in the wall of projectiles, they could try to make a break for it and escape. And then, they would just have to evade it; perhaps they could even find a good place to hide until the flower lost interest (or just run, but she had already been doing that a lot today).

Firing, she grabbed Frisk by the hand and dragged them towards the room's exit, dodging the remaining 'pellets' as they rocketed past. The fleeing humans suddenly slammed into something solid. Rin stumbled backwards, barely managing to stay upright as Frisk tripped onto the ground beside her. Ribs screaming as she forced herself up, she reached up and ran a hand over the invisible wall, swearing as her Pip-Boy cheerfully pinged and displayed that she could go no further. _What the fuck?! I thought I escaped these!_

"YOU **IDIOT**!" Flowey's body started to melt and _twist_ as he let out another distorted laugh. "Did you **REALLY** think I was just going to let you just walk away?!" He summoned more of the white bullets that rocked towards them. She held him off for a few more moments as she destroyed the pellets, back pressed against the invisible barrier that kept her trapped.

Then the clip ran dry with a dull click.

Sliding to the side to avoid one projectile, she walked right into another one's path. She cried out as it tore through the flesh of her upper arm, making her drop the gun. Having circled the flower, Dogmeat suddenly sprinted at it from behind, intent on maiming it. Vines erupted out of the earth and slammed into his side. He flew the air and hit the invisible barrier _hard_ , and he crumpled in a heap.

More vines spring from the floor, wrapping around the handle of her gun before suddenly pulling it into the ground. As more vines started to exploded from the ground around her, Rin dropped her bag and pulled out a serrated machete off her belt. Hacking at the attacking vines, she fought desperately to get to her downed companion.

Her head snapped up when she heard a shrill scream, and she felt her breath leave her. Vines were covering Frisk's legs and arms, smothering their cries as they twisted over their face.

The flower took advantage of her distraction to launch another attack. One shot forward like a spear, burrowing through her hand holding the machete, forcing her to drop it. The vine _pulled,_ dragging her to her knees as her hand sunk into the ground. Something in her wrist _cracked,_ and her vision danced with spots from the pain.

Vines wrapped around her as Flowey appeared, or at least a disturbing impressionistic image of him. its face had an oily-looking texture that bubbled and flowed together even as its canvas smiled. "You... you're the answer to EvErYtHiNg." It whispered in many voices. "With your **SOUL,** I will _finally_ , **_FINALLY_** become a **GOD.** **"**

As he started to tighten the vines around her body, Flowey wrapped more vines around the glittering green heart. Its body was liquifying, the flower leaned further into Rin's face with a crazed grin. "Because of **yOu** ," it whispered in a dark reverence, "we can finally destroy **everything** in this _wretched_ world." The vines on what the flower her soul started to _pull._ Something inside of her started to constrict and _burn_ in agonizing _pain._ The flower _laughed_ and Rin screamed.

Suddenly, a fireball engulfed the vines surrounding the heart, burning the foliage away from the older human. As she bonelessly collapsed to the ground, Flowey turned and snarled " **WHAT** -". Fire engulfed the flower. It screamed and writhed in pain as it burned before it was suddenly sucked into the ground (2).

The chamber was _probably_ deathly silent, but Rin couldn't hear it over the wet and crackly sound of her lungs struggling to take in air. Her while body ached and burned, and she could feel her sluggish heart beat behind her eyes slowing. She had enough experience to know that she was about to die.

"I'm... sorry." She whispered out to the small hands pressing down against her side. "I ... promise... next time..."

White filled her vision.

**-0-0-0-**

"That thing on your wrist - it's a convenience. It tells you where to go, what to do, dulls your brain. It may have helped you find the Sierra Madre broadcast, but it's just as much a crutch today as it was in the Old World."

— _Elijah_ , Fallout New Vegas, Dead Money DLC (3)

**-0-0-0-**

Rin groggily blinked back sleep. There was a warm body comfortably tucked into her side, and judging by the quiet snores in her ear, they were asleep.

The warm body snuggled next to her stopped snoring and shifted. She closed her eyes and feigned sleep. The bed shifted, and she felt the heat leave her side. Suddenly, something warm and moist dragged across her face, followed by a familiar whine. Rin opened her eyes and tiredly smiled at the frantic dog. She gently shushed him a few consoling pats gave before sitting up and lifting her arm to check her Pip-

She jumped when her fingers brushed against sensitive skin. There was a large area of pale, atrophied flesh starting from her wrist and ending a little more than halfway to her elbow.

The area had been consistently covered since the day she turned 10 years old by the gauntlet-shaped computer. It couldn't just be... _gone!_ Throughout all of her adventures in the wastelands, every difficulty and triumph, it had been right there on her wrist. It had been one of the only things she could actually allow herself to consistently rely on.

Fear and disbelief lanced through her as fingers delicately traced over the impressions on her skin from the cuff. Then _fury._ Every pulse in her veins was a call for _vengeance_. A campaign of _fire_ and _bloodshed, damn the consequences! -_

Dogmeat whined again. Rin closed her eyes and took several deep breaths to calm herself. _This situation could be an innocent misunderstanding_ , she reminded herself. _They are at least somewhat friendly, or else they wouldn't have let me live._ _It was probably_ _just left with... the rest of my guns and gear. Well shit._ Her fingers ghosted over the wound that flower bastard made to force her to drop her handgun. There was no indication that the flower stabbed it in the first place. _They wouldn't have healed me, either_. _An enemy wouldn't have hesitated to take me out, and a soldier would've only left me partially healed to see if I was a threat. Maybe a civilian? But how would they have gotten through the mag-locks?_

She glanced around the room. It had a basic single-room domestic unit furniture set-up: writing desk and chair, clothes storage, bed, and empty storage shelves. However, the bed was simply _massive_. Her bare feet dangled a couple inches off the floor, and the mattress made her feel like a child again. It wasn't meant to house someone _remotely_ human-sized.

Whoever lived here was at least the size of a super mutant (4).

Silently sliding of the bed, she glanced down at the clothes she was dressed in. The purple shirt hung loosely off her shoulders and brushed against her shins . It was a very smooth material that warmed beneath her touch. There was an unfamiliar crest neatly embroidered on the front. _A new faction, perhaps? But this is too..._ nice _to be part of a uniform. It doesn't seem very protective either - I think it's called silk? Pre-war_ , _at the very least, but it look that old._

Well, her gear wasn't going to find itself. She searched through the room's containers while Dogmeat stood guard at the door. The wardrobe was empty except for a few large shirts (which seemed to be _even larger_ than the shirt she was wearing! She probably could have crawled through the neck hole). Similarly, the desk was also empty except for some loose pages of fancy letterhead with a flower motif (5).

The room was too impersonal for someone to be actively living in it, and everything from the bookshelves to the mirror frame was coated in a thick layer of grey dust. It had probably been abandoned for a long time. But, it meant the room was empty of anything useful, so she was no closer to actually finding her things. She decided to move on.

The bedroom door creaked loudly when it was opened, and Rin winced. _Well, there goes the stealth option, because someone must've heard that_. She listened for any sort of movement from further inside in response. _Maybe not; I don't hear anything so far. Maybe they were out of earshot_?

"Her" bedroom was at the end of a bright, warm hallway with two other rooms to her right, and two doors to the left. She didn't bother to close the door behind her as she ventured out, in case the house's resident happened to wander into earshot. A piece of paper on a small desk next to the door caught her eye as she left, which read 'room under renovation'. The note felt like old paper, and the lettering was faded with age.

She headed for the first door on the right, which was thankfully silent as she pushed it open. This bedroom had a similar setup to the first, but was clearly lived in. There were four living plants in pots that were well taken care of, and a hand-written book was laying open on the writing desk (she had hoped there was something at least relevant, but it seemed to be someone was writing a... joke book). But she also noticed the shelves. It was packed, top to bottom with mint-condition books. Rin scanned over the titles on the spines.

Unfortunately, aside from a couple of encyclopedias, most of the books seemed to just be fiction (or extremely outdated. Who needed books about plants now-a-days?). Most of the fiction titles were about 'magic' and 'spells', and a couple seemed to be romance novels. A few seemed to be either religious texts or some kind of esoteric book about souls, which was interesting, but it wasn't really useful...

 _Actually, since the flower said that heart was a soul, they might have some more accurate information than what that weed gave me_... Rin thought about taking at least that one with her, but shook her head. _I can look them over later - after I make sure the place is empty._

Briefly looking over the open book on desk ( _nothing personal, just jokes_ ), she left the room and continued down the hallway. She checked the first door on the left, which looked like the master bathroom. It had a huge walk in shower and a super sized double vanity sink next to a corner cabinet on the right. Unfortunately, the cabinets under the sink had locks on the front, and there wasn't a single bobby pin in any of the drawers she could access ( _not even a comically large one, following with the strange size scaling the house had. It was a shame, really - a big sword-like bobby pin would have been hilarious_ ). The upper cabinet was locked, and the bottom cabinet just an assortment the biggest, fluffiest, and _whitest_ towels Rin's ever seen.

 _How are they still so..._ white _?_ She reached out to touch them, and was surprised at how soft they were. _Even the fabrics that have been sealed away from the elements turn yellow from age. Maybe they have some bleach in those locked cabinets._ _With no medicine cabinet, it's the only promising lead I've got. I'll have to come back here once I've searched around for the key; it's got to be around here somewhere._

The second door on the left was a smaller, rectangular bathroom with much more reasonably-human sized things. There was a sink on the left hand side of the room that had a step stool under it, and was in-between a cabinet with _more_ giant towels and a few drawers filled with some standard bathroom toiletries. There was a shower/bathtub combo at the farthest wall, but Rin sincerely doubted that they'd run clean water.

Strangely, neither of the bathrooms had toilets. It was a little weird, especially considering that they had _working_ _plumbing_ inside, but Rin had come across outhouses before. Kinda disgusting, but you made do with what you had - and, if this house lacked the necessary plumbing, then perhaps that's exactly what happened.

The last room on the right was a child's bedroom. There were a few plush toys between the small, neatly-made bed and the wall. At the foot of the bed there was a couple toys that weren't really all that interesting, but looked relatively untouched and new-ish. But there was just something eerie about the room that made her anxious.

Now, the weirdness wasn't obvious at first, but then you look closer. There was a box filled with assorted pairs of small shoes against a wall, and all were in different sizes. The clothes in the wardrobe were all meticulously sorted so the smaller clothes were on the left, and the larger ones on the right. The books in the shelf ranged from spelling books to large sets of novels. And all of it was in like-new condition; unworn, unused, and seemingly waiting for someone.

But there was nothing personalized in the room, and there was absolutely _nothing_ out of place. Dusty and empty picture frames hung on the wall, and the toys looked untouched. The whole thing felt too sterile for the warm presence it tried to emulate.

 _Three rooms, one occupant. No child lives here, yet it's all set up for one to stay, regardless of their age..._ Rin shuddered and turned off the light, closing the door behind her. _I'm getting a slight_ _Hansel and Gretel vibe here._

_Let's just find the witch before she can enjoy the appetizer._

The hallway opened up into a room with a door to the left, stairs down to her right, and what looked to be a dining room straight ahead. Judging by the windows beside the door, the left was probably an exit outside. The view was darkened, which either it was nighttime... or she was still underground. But this had to be a pre-war constructed house; no one built structures like this anymore. If someone was building houses underground in some sort of strange vault attempt, surely there would have been some ad billboard somewhere along the road?

(Not to mention it would have been _immediately_ bought up into Vault-Tec's monopoly on the market the second they got wind of a large cave system under a mountain.)

She could leave the house now to go outside in search for answers, but she needed to search the house thoroughly. Hell, Frisk could just be inside somewhere... as well as the house's owner. That meant no room left unsearched, lest she needed to backtrack. So, with that in mind, Rin continued forward to clear the current level before she'd consider the next step.

The large table she had seen from the hallway was slightly taller than a bar countertop, and had two large (but proportionally sized to the table) armchairs. The third chair was much smaller compared to the others, almost like a normal chair, but it had longer legs to be able to reach the tabletop. It even had a step-stool on the side for someone short (judging by the bedroom, a _child)_ to be able to use it.

 _It has to be one if those 'enlightened' super mutants like Uncle Leo, right_? Rin mused as she eyed the large lazy boy chair sitting next to a fireplace. Like everything else in the house, it seemed larger than normal as well. _Everything's built to about his scale, and there's no ominous meat globs hanging about either, so whoever lives here_ is _rather civilized...  
_

She walked over to the fire-tending tools next to the bookcase and picked up the poker. The heavy metal rod was also a cumbersome SLOW weapon, and she didn't really have the **S** trength to wield melee weapons effectively. It also wouldn't have any damage bonus since the pointy bits had been blunted, but any weapon, _any_ way to defend herself, was better than no weapon at all.

The adjoining room was a fairly standard and clean kitchen. Walking over to the sink, she turned on the water and examined it carefully. Like the bathrooms, the water coming out of the tap _seemed_ to run clear, so it would probably be safe to drink. But there was no way to tell how irradiated the water would be, and she didn't have a method to check her exposure level anymore.

She _was_ thirsty, though. Shrugging, she cupped her hands and drank. She'd get her supplies back eventually one way or the other to take care of any ill effects, and sometimes you just took what was offered. Besides, some hair-like sink growth wasn't even the strangest thing she'd ever seen before, even if it made her briefly question if, in fact, it was a mutated super fungus, but it was fine.

(Well, she would _probably_ be fine. _Maybe_ )

She dried her hands on the borrowed tunic before she started searching the cabinets and drawers. Usually, kitchens would have certain implements (be it knives, meat tenderizer, etc) that would make for a faster - and preferably sharp - weapon.

But this kitchen didn't have any cutlery besides the deliberately blunted spoons and forks. _Where are the knives? Whoever lives here would need then to cook with. Are they hidden somewhere, perhaps on top of the cabinets or fridge?_

Suddenly, a door creaked further inside the house. Rin silently closed the drawers she had been searching and grabbed the blunted poker.

Looks like it was time for answers.

* * *

**-0-0-0-**

**NOTES:**

1-Stimpacks are never really described beyond "stab yourself and you'll heal", so I did my best. I might go further into the Fallout drug specifics later, but my best guess is I won't go to far into it until the inevitable (and obligatory) "Science Time with Alphys" at the very least. It's the same thing with med-X, really, but I think that the wiki has it as a painkiller, so there you go.

2- Flowey may have flown off like Team Rocket in canon, but he also wasn't using his vine attack. Since he'd be more attached into the ground, it would burn him until he smothered out by escaping into the dirt. Because he's manipulating his root system, and it's not really the thing keeping him alive like other plants, he could easily keep the roots shallow enough to fly off with a single hit like he does in canon.

3- I actually don't know who Elijah is, since I only started playing Fallout after baseline New Vegas and 3, but I saw this quote on the TV Tropes page for Fallout 2, and I knew it was perfect (so thanks ZombieSlayers for the correction! My source was wrong!)

4- I scaled up Asgore's bedroom furniture to meet canon heights, and omg he is cannonically like nine feet tall. (super mutants are around 7-10 feet tall for reference). All of his furniture would need to be at least a couple of feet bigger to fit him more comfortably. The bed itself is almost a perfect square, so, some quick math later, his bed is a minimum of 108x108 inches if he had no leg room to stretch. That's *one quick Google* The size of a mattress called the Alaskan King, which can comfortably fit four people on it. I'm not even sure if that height figures in his horns, so it could need to be EVEN BIGGER to fit him comfortably. If you don't feel like a child laying on that super-sized sucker, I honestly don't know what will.

Also, Toriel also comes in at around 8 foot 4, so that chair-iel of hers has to be **big** to fit her as well as its shown to. Are there monster carpenters and craftsmen who made these things? Because there is zero chance that a human with the dimensions they need dumping entire sets of gigantic clothes, furniture, etc where it would actually wash into the underground.

5-Headcanon that Asgore would _love_ having his personal letterhead to have flowers on them. He could have different flowers mean different urgency levels, or be gooey romantic. Side note: He'd also be _so_ into the language of flowers. Like, so into it that he would grow the flowers to send them out. Eventually the scientists made the echo flowers because "really, Asgore, those flowers have been piling up in my office _please stop"._ If you don't like that headcanon **fite me.**

* * *

**-0-0-0-**

**OMAKE**

"You want some LOVE, don't -*plink*- OW! HOW DARE YOU -*plink*- HEY -*plink*- STOP THAT NOW!"

Rin lowered her BB gun and gave the angry yellow flower (honestly, the fact that his petals were flaring like a cat was _adorable_ ) a confused look. "But I wanted to share the LOVE too. Don't you want some of _my_ little white friendliness pellets? I just want to share the LOVE!"

Floating invisible besides a giggling Frisk, Chara pinched the bridge of their nose sighed in irritation.

**-O~O-**

_The realistic gamer in a situation like this. Or, how the story would be much less interesting if I wrote It the way I actually play Fallout. Inspired by my crippling flamethrower from Fallout 4, which had a 25% chance of crippling a limb - which, because it was a fucking FLAMETHROWER, made enemies fall to the floor in a completely immobile heap in like five seconds. Take THAT you stupidly strong bosses!_

"Howdy! I'm Fl-" Pa- _FWOOF!_

Rin lowered her flamethrower as the screaming flower disappeared, watching the grass burn away. The second she entered the room, the flowers name appeared in VATS as enemy-red. This marked enemies who wouldn't hesitate to attack, and she wouldn't let him distract her with some kind of small talk.

Whistling sharply, Dogmeat excitedly ran up her from the other room as Frisk hesitantly followed behind.

"Is... Is he dead?" Frisk asked nervously, glancing at the burning grass.

Rin looked up from reloading her weapons with a pensive frown. "Ya know... He did disappear before his health hit zero, and I got no EXP from him, so... No, probably not. You don't have to worry, though. This flamethrower was built to cripple its targets, so if he's going to continue to be a problem, I just made sure that he won't be much of one."

Frisk shuddered at the blunt answer, but quickly followed Rin as she left the room. Chara scowled. A knife may have been cool, but a flamethrower... Now THAT would have been the better choice. Turn monsters directly into dust without all the hassle of them having to wait for them to die first. _Why_ _didn't_ **I** _think of that_?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -0-0-0-
> 
> A.N.
> 
> I'm not really sure how much I'm going into the backstories, but I'll try to find some pretty good, relevant, and suspiciously accurate quotes from all the games. If anyone finds some, I'm all ears, because I'll run out eventually. And even some are a gonna be a bit of a stretch, I'll tell ya that right now. Maybe book quotes and from other games, I don't know.
> 
> There's already a lot of generalized ideas for how this is going to play out, so please don't be offended if I don't use your favorite moment, follower, creature, mission, etc. On The other hand, maybe comment and I'll find a way to write it in.
> 
> I don't really have specific SPECIAL stats right now, but if I do create them, I might do it for at least Rin. Like, I have a basic idea of what skills and stuff she has, but not the actual stats that will allow for those skills. Little confused, tbh...
> 
> Before Anyone Asks: yes, I know that if Rin was hurt, then both dog and child would also be injured. I was debating how I would actually write this in the mix of themes in a satisfying way because it's really hard. So ssh... strange plot holes will be covered further in the story. If you think there's a major one that I've missed, PM me because I'm more likely to see out in time to actually fix it before going further, and is less likely to spoil my expanding outline.
> 
> Dunno for sure yet how some stuff is going to go, but let's not think about it that hard yet!
> 
> I was actually thinking of using the "Note from Dad" for the quote because that for pretty well too, but I think I might use that later.
> 
> Also, added the "half bathrooms" in. It's just places to shower, since they might not need toilets, but they still get dirty and need to brush their teeth.


	3. Peace of Pie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTES:
> 
> Fixed quote citations on last chapter when this chapter was uploaded, thanks commenter from FFN (I'm not gonna dox you on another site, as this story is cross posted on FFN!) I also went back and fixed some things, nothing really plot orientated, just details. Also, does 'updating a chapter' change the "last updated" date?
> 
> I also took the time to add small details on there, but if you've read it already its not plot-related, just a few details I've added, like a quick ret-con on the existence of bathrooms/place to shower in Toriel's home, and a few changes to the first chapter as well. Embarrassingly enough, I still had place holder words and descriptions in there, so those are fixed too.
> 
> Fair Warning, I'll probably be doing small changes like that until it is finished.
> 
> Also, part of the reason why this takes so long to put out is my ADHD brain coming up with more plot to happen later. Like, much later. It helps me write in hints and lead-ups, but not the actual chapter leading to that. I have a lot of plot worked out though, or at least a general, unwritten plan. So, at least there's that.
> 
> -0-
> 
> DISCLAIMER: A couple things this time-
> 
> Smoking is bad, but you need to remember Fallout occurs in a universe where 9/10 doctors recommend a cigarette. (Or, at least they did, before the bombs dropped.)
> 
> Factions (like in Fallout: New Vegas) exist in 3 and 4, so i don't see why they didn't include disguises because that's a really useful thing that, unfortunately, wasn't in recent games. But, realistically speaking, you should be able to masquerade as a faction with the right armor/markings and acting skills. This will become more relevant as time goes on.
> 
> Someone was worried that this would be a genocide run, so I'll address that here. With how good humans became at killing each other, the relatively weaker monsters wouldn't stand a chance if a fallout protagonist went terminator on them. It'd just be instant domination, basically death-porn, and not really all that interesting plotwise. I mean, don't get me wrong, sometimes I love me some angst stories, but it'd have to be a good story and plot (that I Don't have) to keep me hooked. I have ficlets from inspirations in the works, and at least two "weird"/abstract chapters planned, but it's not genocide, not in this story. It's also not fair to the spirit of either game, considering the massive effort both games put in to making sure you act like a good protagonist, and punish you for being a d-bag.
> 
> I'll sum it up like this: It's a dog eat dog -a literal kill or be killed- world, and that's the dynamic I'm trying to explore here damn it.
> 
> That being said... Please remember quotes are meant to put you in a certain mindset. And, as always -
> 
> Enjoy!~

**-0-0-0-**

"Wearing outfits that are associated with a high-profile faction can be an effective disguise... or a good way to get shot, depending on present company."

"The Capital Wasteland lacks a unified government, and any institutional system of crime and punishment. If you wrong someone, prepare to pay with your life."

"If you start a fight you can't finish, try putting away your weapon. Your opponent just might forgive you..."

— _One_ New Vegas _and two_ Fallout 3 _loading screen texts, respectively_

**-0-0-0-**

Melee weapons were difficult and clumsy things when you didn't have the Strength to really put power behind the swing, and she'd never really put any effort towards it. Without V.A.T.S. to make up for the pitiful damage she'd be doing, Rin was essentially up against some unknown opponent(s) who had access to her best guns and equipment, while she was in what was essentially a fucking _nightgown_ (that she **Did Not** have on this morning, _thank you very much_ ) and a heavy metal rod to swing like a baseball bat. (1)

So no, Rin wasn't nervous. What reason would she have? _Ha ha... ha..._

Not only that, but the best way to use any melee weapon was with V.A.T.S., which she _didn't have,_ not without her Pip-Boy. It'd be a challenge, but (hopefully) not impossible, if she kept in cover and relied on Dogmeat for a distraction.

She heard paper rustle from somewhere in the room behind her. _Alright, showtime._ Rolling her shoulders, Rin quietly clicked her tongue; in response, Dogmeat looked up at her and whuffed softly. Nodding to herself, she spun on the ball of her foot, pirouetting around the doorway and brandished her weapon -

The command to attack died on her tongue at the sight of Frisk pushing a paper bag filled with items on top of the table. _Well, at least step one is complete,_ she thought as she quickly lowered the poker and placed her hand on Dogmeat's head to get him to stand down (2). "Frisk?"

They jolted and whipped their head around, staring at her in open mouthed shock. Rin had barely stepped into the room when she was met by an armful of crying child, who had a surprisingly strong pair of arms that latched around her neck. Surprised by the sudden affection, her hands hovered by her side before awkwardly hugging them back, whispering quiet platitudes while trying not to accidentally whack them with the poker.

After a long moment, she gently pushed them away and looked them over. "Are you ok?" They nodded, sniffling and rubbing their eyes with the sleeve of their sweater. Rin smiled, ruffling their hair and stood. "Alright then. We can talk about this a little later, Ok? First, I need to find my stuff, and then we get out of here. So just stay close to me and -"

"You're awake!" Another voice came from the hallway. Rin grabbed Frisk's thin wrist and stood, pulling them behind her and brandished the poker towards the intruder in a fluid motion.

Standing in the hallway was a strange horned creature that she distantly recognized as a goat (though, admittedly, she had never seen an actual goat, but the shape of its head and ears ears looked close enough based on drawings she's seen before (3)). Of course, in each of those drawings they had hooves like a brahmin, but this one had actual white furry _hands_ that clutched the front of its purple, floor-length dress over its heart (at least, where a heart would be on a human or super mutant (4)). The creature also had bony horns about the length of a finger on the top of its head, though the very tips of them looked like they had been ground down until they were blunt - much like the poker.

It was about the size of the furniture, and also had white fur, like the fungus - fur?- stuck in the sink's drain.

 _Was_ this _the owner of the house?_

"Oh my goodness..." The goat woman (at least it sounded like a She?) whispered. "Ah... You must be Rin." She stated in a carefully level tone, looking between the humans and the weapon that was brandished between them. "You must be very confused right now, but I promise I will explain everything when we sit down and TALK peacefully."

The woman held her hands up in a placating manner, uncovering the strange faction symbol emblazoned on her dress. It was the same symbol that Rin herself now wore, at least until she found her jumpsuit, but it made her uncomfortable to be in faction clothes without knowing who it represented. "Who do you work for?"

The woman blinked (bringing attention to her _squared pupils (5)_ ) and tilted her head in confusion. "Pardon?"

"That symbol on the shirts," Rin stated, loosely thrusting her poker forwards as if to accentuate her words; the woman cringed away at the gesture. "What group does it stand for?"

Something flashed across the goat woman's face, her expression becoming more cold and distant as she squared her shoulders and clasped her hands together. In that moment, the passive civilian disappeared under the aura of strength that would have had a weaker man bow before her, and soldiers to stand straight, click their heels, and wait for their orders.

"This is the Delta Rune," The woman stated gravely with her chin held high. "The emblem of the kingdom that rules the UNDERGROUND. The kingdom... of MONSTERS."

 _Kingdom of Monsters, eh_? Rin cocked her head to the side and examined the other being's stiff, almost defensive posture while Frisk tried to twist and squirm out of her grip. _Well, kingdom of mutants doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, and 'Kingdom of Monsters' has a more mysterious, don't-fuck-with-us tone to it. Not bad for a gang; well, obviously it's more than just a gang if they can call themselves a kingdom. But..._

"Why do you call yourselves monsters?"

Whatever the woman expected her to say, evidently that was not it.

"You mean, you do not...!" She cut herself off. Her commanding aura shattered as she stood flabbergasted, opening and closing her mouth as if she wanted to say something. (6) After a moment, she collected herself and cleared her throat. "We call ourselves 'MONSTERS' because that is what we _are,_ the same way you _are_ a HUMAN."

Rin refrained from rolling her eyes at the non-answer in case the woman took it the wrong way, but, since the woman didn't understand what she meant, she wasn't going to be the one to enlighten her. To call your entire populace "monsters" seemed degrading, but what would she know: she _was_ just a _human_ , after all (7).

"Anyways," The woman began suddenly, wringing her hands in a nervous gesture. "I apologize for leaving you to wake up alone. Awakening in an unfamiliar place after your... _confrontation_ with that horrible creature must have been terribly disorienting for you, but we do not have to FIGHT. Why don't we settle this over a nice slice of pie instead?"

Rin's stomach betrayed her and growled angrily at the mention of food, and felt herself blush at the goat woman's pointed look. Both she and Dogmeat had been living off scraps and rations for the past two and a half weeks, supplemented by a few small animals that crossed their path. She'd been planning on eating while they raided that neighborhood, so it must've been _at least_ two days since she'd had anything substantial.

Yet she was still hesitant to trust the self-proclaimed 'monster', because no matter how earnest the woman seemed, it could be an attempt to lure her into a false sense of security. The woman may not have killed her in her sleep (yet), but there were some sick fucks out there who'd get their rocks off by making people believe they're safe, and then torturing them (she hadn't seen the basement, after all. Torture dungeon, storage pantry, bunker, goat-demon worship-and-sacrificial-offering alter: _anything_ could be down there).

But what other choice did she have at the moment? Fighting her would be announcing to this unknown faction (a so-called 'kingdom', for whatever that meant) that she was a _threat._ She didn't need a fight she wasn't prepared for, another endless war against a faction she's wronged in some way, who kept trying to draw her back into whatever madness they had planned as if she didn't have a choice.

(Not the Brotherhood, not the Enclave, and certainly not this new faction. It was better to just stay _neutral_.)

The poker dropped to her side as her shoulders slumped. Frisk slid their hand out of her now-loose grip and moved to stand beside her. Rubbing their wrist, the kid warily glanced between the adults, as if to make sure they weren't going to attack each other at the nearest opportunity.

"Wonderful!" The goat-woman clasped her hands on front of her and smiled. "I will be back in a moment with the pie. Please, have a seat; I will be back shortly." With that, the woman turned and walked into the kitchen.

Leaning back on her heel, Rin watched her open the cupboards. She had only given them a cursory glance, but it was enough to tell whether or not the woman was going through more drawers then necessary to retrieve her utensils. She just needed to watch _carefully-_

A small hand slipped into her own. Startled, she snapped her head down to look at Frisk. They gently pulled her arm towards the chairs at the table. _Ah, damn it, there goes the 'watching to make sure she doesn't poison it' plan._ With a resigned sigh, Rin allowed herself to be pulled along.

The kid immediately claimed the taller, child-sized seat with the steps, leaving Rin with the middle chair (because there was no way in _hell_ she'd be letting some stranger sit between them). Leaning the poker against the table leg, she pushed the (surprisingly heavy and cushioned) chair closer to Frisk's end of the table and slumped down onto it.

Dropping her left hand, she snapped her fingers a couple times. Dogmeat dutifully came over and laid down on that side, in-between the humans and self-proclaimed 'monster' as an added layer of precaution. Frisk frowned and opened their mouth to speak when their eyes darted to the side and widened. Suddenly alert, Rin quickly twisted her around to follow their line of sight to the kitchens as she saw-

Walking back to the living area, the goat woman held plates and utensils in one hand while balancing a pie tin on the palm of her other hand - that was _on_ _fire_. An orange flame surrounded her hand and curled around the edges of the pie plate, yet it didn't seem to char the sleeves of her dress or the fur (hair?) of her hand. The flame extinguished as she slid the pan onto the table, but her fur didn't seem to be even slightly charred, and neither did the hem of her robes.

 _I've got to get a hand on that fabric. And how did she manage to insulate her hand from the heat? The fur? If I could figure that out.._.

The stunned silence (on the humans' part, at least; the supposed 'monster' continued on like having a hand engulfed in fire was _normal_ ) was broken by Frisk, grinning and gave the woman a standing ovation, precariously balanced on the edge of the chair on top toes. It was so enthusiastic, Rin actually found _herself_ clapping along as well.

The woman looked surprised for a moment before she smiled at them and gave a dramatic bow, making her floppy ears dangle. "Ah, thank you! It is my _burning_ passion to _ember_ tain the masses, and _ignite_ a sincere _spark_ of interest for magic by giving it a special _flare_." She twisted her wrist in a flourish and sent to a small burst of flame from her fingertips.

Frisk giggled, while Rin simply rolled her eyes and huffed. _Suuure, that was_ totally _magic, and_ not _some some clever tube setup hidden in her fur._ The kid seemed entertained though, so she wouldn't push the subject. _For now_.

"That _was_ very impressive," Rin complemented as she watched the woman cut the pie, carefully examining her hands as she moved (She didn't _see_ any tubes poking through, so they might be small and sunken? Hollow hairs?) "And, I've got to say, I've never seen anything quite like it before, miss...?"

The goat-woman paused lifting a slice of pie and glanced up. "Did I not- no, of course not, you were... _asleep_. I apologize. My name is Toriel, caretaker of these RUINS. And you have never seen fire magic, you say? How strange, when we were sealed down here..." She trailed off, shaking her head while she put the pie on the plate. "Of course, that was a long time ago, now. Many things must have happened on the surface since we were sealed down here."

As Toriel ( _what a strange name_ ) settled into a thoughtful silence, Rin hummed in absent agreement and accepted the slice of pie that was handed to her.

 _That sounds like she's implying that they are some kind of vault. But if it was Vault Tec, then we'd be encased in a metal tube A_ test _tube, but a tube nonetheless._

She looked down at the pie... and blinked slowly. The filling was a greyish color that faintly reminded her of, but the texture was more akin to a slightly runny pumpkin pie. But it also didn't really have a smell, like one would expect when they were _handed warm food._ How... _interesting_.

"What type of pie is this, exactly?" She asked, politely trying to keep any hint of disgust off her face as she scraped at the filing with her fork. Surprisingly, it seemed Frisk wasn't particularly picky with their food, as they looked almost excited when the woman handed them a plate.

"This is a snail pie." Toriel stated as she sat down at her end of the table. "Please do not be afraid to taste it, because it is very healthy and filling." Toriel assured them with a smile, with a slight undertone of a parental reprimand as she made eye contact with Rin. "I know that MONSTER food might seem strange at first, but that does not mean that it will be bad. If you try it, you may even find you like it."

Rin ducked her head like she was embarrassed, but it was mostly to hide a grimace. _Yep, it's gonna be disgusting. Next she's gonna tell me I need to eat my vegetables before I can leave the table._

Frisk ignored the adults as they eagerly cut a piece of pie. It was halfway to their mouth when a freezing-cold hand suddenly touched their knee. Startled, they looked up at Rin, who shook her head slowly. They seemed slightly conflicted, but they nodded and lowered their fork anyways.

Now, Rin wasn't quite sure what a snail was, but she figured nothing really beat pike-roasted radroach in the 'fucking _disgusting_ ' category for taste, and it would probably not even register in a top ten list of the weird shit she's had to eat to survive. But, with all of Toriel's insistence on a distinction between them, was it safe for humans to eat, _period_? Or was it more like, say... Super Mutant food?

(Though there was a glaringly obvious lack of meat bags hanging about, she still hadn't checked the basement. At least a 'snail' didn't sound like it was human)

"Ma'am, what is uh... _monster_ food, exactly?" _Please don't be a code word for human flesh._

"Ah, I am glad you asked! You see, unlike human food, MONSTER food converts perfectly into energy to feed your SOUL without any... _waste products_ left over, and it is made completely out of magic. It is very easy to digest for both HUMAN and MONSTER alike, and aids in healing you when eaten." Toriel explained readily, sparing a glance at Frisk before giving her an oddly intense look.

Rin couldn't hide an eye tick as 'magic' given as a completely _legitimate_ and _earnest_ answer _yet again,_ though thankfully the goat woman didn't seem to notice as she went back to cutting the pie (or, at least, politely didn't comment on it).

While she was _absolutely sure_ that there was something else to it - _because what_ the fuck _does "no waste products" mean_ -, she didn't want to push her limits with the creature's hospitality with answering in-depth questions. Rin could tell that the woman was starting to get annoyed with her, and insisting on answers _right now_ might mean she's less willing to open up (and perhaps let something slip about that unknown "kingdom").

However, Rin was also pretty certain that she could get away with _at least_ one more question, so she'd ask one that was also rather pressing.

"So... what _is_ a snail?"

Toriel's fork paused halfway to her mouth as she blinked at Rin in confusion. "A snail is a slug-like creature that has a shell on it, and with long eye stalks." She said slowly. "If you like, I would be happy to show you some books on them after we eat."

"That'd would be great, thanks." Rin said with a plastic smile. It felt condescending, the way that she talked down to her, but it seemed like the goat woman believed something like this was common knowledge (8). _Which means I_ probably _shouldn't ask what a slug is._ _Another one of those 'later' questions, I guess._

She waited until Toriel took a bite of her pie before trying it herself. And... it _was_ surprisingly edible, and could even be considered good when compared to what was left of the MREs she'd been living off for the past few weeks. It was strange because its lack of scent suggested it would be bland, but it kind of tasted like a better, high quality version of 'meat' pies that a couple places had; except without bits of gristle and leathery bits to crunch down on every bite "for texture" (and once Rin had found _an entire finger_ ). It was still mystery meat, and it had an unusual -and slightly... _slimy_ \- texture, but it was also something her body wasn't immediately rejecting, so she called that a win in her book.

"It's... certainly interesting. Not that bad." Rin nodded as she cut off another bit. Frisk, taking that as an approval, shoved the piece into their mouth and shot Toriel a thumbs up.

Her fur seemed to _literally_ puff up with pride. " _Pie_ am glad you both enjoy it!"

They ate in silence, though Frisk seemed all to eager to just dig into their piece. Rin caught their eye as they came up for breath and raised an eyebrow. They ducked their head and blushed, before glancing back with a mischievous look. Spearing another piece of pie, they popped it into their mouth, chewed, glanced at Toriel to make sure she wasn't looking, and stuck out their food-covered tongue.

Rin scrunched her nose in an exaggerated show of disgust, and they giggled. In response, she turned her left eye out of Toriel's view and pulled down the eyelid and sneered.

The humans made faces at each other throughout the quiet meal, both trying to keep out of Toriel's gaze. Which was surprisingly difficult, at least on Rin's part, as the goat woman kept glancing over at her whenever either made an audible laugh (which was often, as by this point both were competing to make the most silly face).

"So, Rin," Toriel stated, breaking the one-sided silence between humans and... well, whatever the woman _actually_ was. "How are you feeling? Are you sore, or in pain, in any way? Your arm looks-"

Rin's free hand had practically flown over to her arm before she could really even register the other woman's words, and it left her breathless like a bullet to the chest when the Rin touched her bare arm. An intense wave of grief briefly washed over her before Toriel's sudden concerned look. It made Rin entirely too aware of how pale and strange her arm currently looked, so she quickly switched her fork to her left hand, shoved her right arm under the table, and pressed it across her lap. _Don't show weakness, not now_.

"I'm just fine." She bit out, probably more aggressively than was warranted. She tried to add a a friendlier tone to her follow-up: "I've been feeling a O.K. since I woke up, and my arm doesn't bother me at all. Why?"

Toriel hesitated, glancing between the older and younger humans. "Ah, Well, it's just that... Your injuries were quite... _severe,_ and though I could heal _most_ of the... _damage_ , I believed you would need much more time to, um... _rest_."

"And what you _couldn't_ fix?"

"Ah, um, well..." Toriel shifted in her seat and pointedly glanced between her and Frisk. "I believe that is a conversation best left for another time."

 _Or, at least, away from young ears_ , Rin thought as she spared a glance over at the other younger human. Frisk quickly looked down to avoid eye contact, shuffling in their seat and poking at their half-eaten pie like they hadn't just been caught staring.

Honestly, Rin didn't really care about age; the kids at Little Lamplight seemed to understand such 'adult stuff' (9). And, in the rare few cases where she dealt with children with parents (a rare luxury, in the unforgiving wastes), she'd be happy to play along in their attempts to keep at least some semblance of innocence. But this was _different_. Frisk was a relative stranger, but they were at her side when she nearly died; sure, they may not understand everything, but they deserved _something_ , like a reassuring talk, at the very least.

(She may not be good at those, but they didn't deserve the brush-off the other woman was trying to do)

"No offence, ma'am, but I'm not particularly squeamish, if that's what you're worried about." Rin said, dangling her fork from limp fingers as she leaned forward and rested her head on her knuckles. "I don't mind you keeping it _simple_ , if you like, but I think _we_ ," she stressed the word, and loosely gestured to Frisk with her fork, "have the right to know."

Toriel glanced between the humans, an odd, barely **P** erceptible mix of misty-eyed sadness and tight-lipped anger that left as quickly as it came, morphing as her jaw set and a determined glint appeared in her eyes.

"Be that as it may, it is getting late. _We,_ " she stressed, locking eyes with the eldest human, "will have to wait until tomorrow to talk. That being said, are either of you still hungry?" Toriel suddenly asked as she picked up the pie tin, which had a single slice on it.

Rin leaned back in her chair and gave a quiet 'no thanks', accepting the woman's change of topic (temporary, because she would not drop it). And, though Frisk looked at the piece longingly, they shook their head as well.

She frowned down at it. "Well, I would hate for it to go to waste..."

Sliding the pie into her plate, she leaned down and placed it on the floor in front of Dogmeat. He stood and licked his chops-

"Dogmeat, hold!"

-and sat right back down with a disappointed whine. (He was well trained to not eat before she allowed him (10). Toriel tensed and gave her an unreadable look.

"I know you said that it's safe for humans, but _my_ _dog_ is completely different." Rin stated slowly, unsure what had made the creature suddenly become so defensive. "Is that... _safe_ for him to have?"

Toriel seemed to relax, but there was still a sense of uncertainty in her words. "Well, of course it is. Being made of magic, MONSTER food will also sustain animals as well, as most of the creatures who occasionally find themselves in the UNDERGROUND are perfectly capable of living off it. If you are particularly... _uncomfortable_ with him eating this, I do have someone who I could ask to bring... ah, _your dog_ some specific food, but I am not expecting him until tomorrow at the earliest. Until then, this will be fine for him."

"I'm sorry, did you say _most_? What does-"

"Well, look at the time!" Toriel practically leapt out of her chair as she stacked the dirty plates together. "My child," she said with a glance at Frisk, "why don't you help me with dishes, and Rin can return to bed and continue healing. We can worry about everything else on the morning."

And, with that, the woman rushed to the kitchen.

Grimacing, Rin pushed her mostly-eaten pie plate away and leaned back in her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose. She shouldn't have pushed her like that, asking yet another difficult question when it was obvious the woman would just shut down and deflect them.

But how could she not be concerned about how this 'zero waste product' food that only _most_ animals could live off of? Did that mean they couldn't eat it, or did they get sick when they did?

There was a small tug on her shirt. Frisk looked up at her with concern, and Rin realized she must've been staring into space as she became lost in thought. She hadn't even noticed them getting out of their chair.

"I'm fine, kiddo; just tired, s'all. I just need to sleep it off," Rin explained, readily embracing Toriel's excuse if it meant the kid didn't unnecessarily worry about her.

Dogmeat drew her attention away when he whined, anxiously looking between his master and the slice of pie still on the ground. Rin rolled her eyes. "Go ahead, then," she said in an exasperated tone. He hardly waited for her to finish speaking before he was in front of the plate and frantically gobbling it down. A single slice would probably be fine, and would buy her time to find a better alternative.

"Little glutton," she said fondly, patting his head as he licked his chops and wagged his tail. Rin glanced back at Frisk, who was still standing there looking up at her worriedly. "Really, I'm fine. Why don't you take the plates," she picked hers and Frisk's up off the table, stacking them together with Dogmeat's plate and handing it to them. "Help Toriel wash 'em. Dogmeat'll keep you both company; besides, it's gonna be pretty boring when I go sleep, and he's not gonna be too tired after all that pie."

A lie, of course, but she didn't have, and couldn't think of, a better excuse to keep them from helping Toriel. Dogmeat would protect them if they needed it, and she felt confident he would protect the kid to the best of his ability.

"Ah, before you go to bed," Toriel suddenly stated, standing in the arch and drying the pie plate with a towel. "I must ask for no reason in particular... What do you prefer? Cinnamon or butterscotch?"

Rin blinked slowly at her. "I have no idea what either of those things are." She could have _sworn_ that there wasn't any scotch, or any alcohol at all in the cabinets when she was ' _searching through'_ them earlier. God knows what 'cinnamon' was supposed to mean (11).

"You... do no know what butterscotch and cinnamon are?" The woman tilted her head and frowned.

 _Damn it, its gotta be another one of those general knowledge things_. Rin rubbed the back of her neck and gave an apologetic grin. "Ah, yeah, I guess you could say I was a bit _sheltered_ as a kid. I'm not particularly picky, though. I'm willing to try it." She reached out and ruffled the kid's hair. "G'night Frisk."

As she walked into the hallway, she slowed down when she heard Toriel say "Oh, so your name is Frisk? What a lovely name!"

Shuffling into the bedroom at the end of the hall, she dragged the large chair in front of the door. She left it open slightly, letting her listen to what was happening in the hallway but the chair should prevent the door being opened enough that Toriel, or any other super-sized, lurking 'monsters' could get in, but (hopefully) allowing enough space for Frisk, and thus Dogmeat, to enter.

Hopping onto the bed, she laid on top of the covers and idly traced the divots in her right arm with a finger as she thought about everything she had learned on the evening. There were a couple things bugging her, but she had already known that most of those wouldn't be solved until _at least_ tomorrow; probably longer, actually, since Toriel seemed to like to deflect questions.

But, the most pressing thing on her mind right now was, if Frisk told Toriel _her_ name, why didn't they tell her _their_ name?

* * *

**-0-0-0-**

**NOTES:**

1- Rin is not used to using melee weapons, and Fallout had some bad ones. Most are shitty, and they're not even worth leveling up the skill in my opinion. Like any human, she can use them, just not as well as a high strength character.

2- Regardless of of they are friendly or not, if commanded, your companion will attack your target. I once experimented with it, commanding a follower to pickpocket a guy, but accidentally stood and ended up ordering his death instead. Sorry random non-hostile NPC: mistakes were made.

Ah, followers. Zero brains, but loyal to a fault. Boys, girls, dogs, elders- there's nobody they won't fight!(Skyrim)

3- Yeah, turns out goats aren't very rad-resistant, so most (if not all) farm animals (except cows, obviously) died off after the bombs irradiated the land, according to Fallout lore.

4-not even going to imagine the specifics of humanoid goat organs, so please assume monsters have a basic human anatomy setup unless specified.

5- She is a goat, thus has goat-like biology.

6- with the older humans violent reaction, Toriel was already tense. But when asked about the kingdom, her mind immediately concluded that the human would suddenly know/remember what monsters were. I'm not sure if the monsters are even aware that they essentially 'faded into legend' for humans, that they basically forgot they ever actually existed. Since she was there when the humans sealed them away (I'm pretty sure, and Asgore's shadow in the opening), she would have definitely come across violent or angry humans. Since the humans who fell were all children, it would be expected that an adult would understand the war in context, and have a much more... violent reaction.

Also, Toriel is a QUEEN. I'll get into it later, but I subscribe to the 'if you rule or are a leader, you need to know how to command a room' philosophy

7- this is something that has always bothered me, really. When you hear the word "monster", you don't just think "Monsters Inc."-esque monsters, silly and colorful. You think of all those things lurking in the dark, waiting to scare you as you least suspect it. You think of beasts, of demons, of abominations. Not of creatures like in Undertale. Yeah, I am fully aware it's a deliberate subversion of the players expectations, but in real life? For a real group? Not likely.

8- Children can be excused for their ignorance of how a system works (and some adults do comment on Frisk's questions on monster culture a couple times in game!), but an adult who asks similar questions is going to be extremely suspicious. Why wouldn't they know at least the basics? Or who their leader -their literal king- is? _Because they're not one of us, an imposter_.

9- For the record: I'm fully aware that the kids in little lamplight are not 'normal' children, in any sense of the word, but it is the location of the majority of children in the Capital Wasteland. And, really. A kid almost sees someone DIE. Do you think that the best way to address this is to ignore it completely? No, because that child will be messed up forever.

10- One of the big training things for dogs, and I mean both working dogs and even pets, is to train them to not eat until they are given permission. So, following how I imagine Dogmeat to be (a very trained, and intelligent, creature who responds like a military/service/police canine), he would not eat unless told to do so.

11- I looked it up, and most cinnamon used in the United States is imported from Indonesia, meaning no cinnamon in the wasteland. As for butterscotch... what kind of weirdo sits down and makes candy in an apocalypse scenario? And where would they get the supplies to do it? Most plants died due to the fallout, meaning no sugar cane. So, nope. Rin has never had cinnamon nor butterscotch.

* * *

**-0-0-0-**

**OMAKE**

_Or, I love that you can walk away from conversations in Fallout 4_

Rin's eye twitched as the woman casually dismissed her. Well, she tried too be nice, but that wasn't working.

"This will allow me the chance to educate you in the operation of the RUINS." Toriel continued, and Frisk, I suppose-" Rin spun on her heel and walked away.

 _Nope, not happening_.

She just wanted to get out and clear her head for awhile without the presence of children and what was _probably_ a mutated pre-war animal that became sentient at some point (at least, it was her working hypothesis as to _how the actual hell_ an animal she had only ever seen a caricature of - _on a slide show_ in her Vault classroom when she was sixteen - AKA _probably_ extinct - that could talk).

"... Since they were much to worried about - eh? Where are you going - Wait! "

Frisk looked up from their drawing to the hallway, where Toriel looked like she was trying to stop Rin from leaving the house. They leaned over to the transparent, ghost-like visage of a child (that shared their soul? Or something? They weren't too terribly sure, but it was nice to have a friend). "Should we, like... Do something, or -"

"They're adults, let them figure it out." Chara stated with a wave of their hand, staring at the drawing with a critical eye. "Hmm... The shoulders need to be just a little bit higher, it needs some holsters, and you call _that_ a rifle? You have a perfectly good reference point _right over there_!" They loosely gestured over to the (physically) oldest human in the house.

And, standing there in the entryway, Rin was indeed holding a hunting rifle... that Toriel was also trying to take away. With some considerable force, judging by how far the older human was leaning backwards as the other pulled.

"I didn't really wasn't too look too close at it, ok? It's kind of weird to see someone else here, with a lot of _weapons_ and -"

"Yeah, yeah, don't get started on the 'peace, love, and pacifism' shit again. Just because they have a weapon doesn't mean they'll suddenly snap and hurt others-"

The sound of gunshots rattled the house. Frisk looked up at Chara with a pointed look.

"We both already knew she was nuts; she is one of those people who exist to skew the data. Now draw that gun on the left with rainbow-lasers."

Frisk sighed, but carefully picked out a rainbow of colored crayons from the package. "Guns don't make lasers, Chara. They shoot bullets, even _I_ know that that."

"Yeah, but are you _really_ sure? I mean, look at that the one on her back; If that _isn't_ some kind of laser-shooting space gun, I'll-"

Just then, the front for slammed open. Several things happened in that moment. first, a cat streaked into the room, with a froggit costume flapping from its shoulders. A giant mole rat was gnashing the tip of its puffy tail, and the dog (what kind of person names their dog Dogmeat anyways?) growled and snapped at its heels.

Rin slammed into the wall and held up her rifle, trying to take aim at the rat but Toriel's hand knocked the barrel side, sending a bolt of plasma into the back of her chair. It exploded in a into a cloud of cotton and foam, raining smoldering chunks down onto the living room.

"YAS!" Chara cheered. "I friggin TOLD you, _lasers!"_

Frisk, ignoring their friend as they did a celebratory dance on the tabletop, warily watched the older human berate goatmom as the trio of animals sprint into the kitchen. Both adults followed, and more gunshots sounded.

"Should we do anything, or...?"

"The adults'll be fine." Chara waved a transparent hand dismissively, knocking around the cushion/ash motes in the air. "It's not our problem till they _make it_ our problem. Now," they floated closer to the drawing and ran a hand over their chin like they were stroking an invisible goatee. "Make the tip of it more triangle-shaped, and did you see the crank on the side? Put that about there..."

"So what are you going to do?" Frisk asked, deliberately ignoring the squeals, barking, and bleats emanating from the kitchen.

"Hm?"

"You were going to do something if it shot lasers. It does, so what are you going to do?"

"Well, I _WAS_ going to say let your SOUL go, but I didn't finish, so I don't have to. So get to drawing, slave!"

Frisk rolled their eyes and grumbled, but complied, even as the kitchen started bellowing black smoke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A.N.
> 
> So, I have definitely updated these chapters! In fact, this chapter never actually had an authors note. I've been trying to go back to... eh, standardize my chapter formatting. Its a format I'm going to use in the future as well!
> 
> And, if you're reading this on AO3, hello! I added this line as I was cross-posting everything I made already to the site! I have another account at FFN, though this story should all be the same!
> 
> If I update a chapter, I'll try to remember to update it on this site as well!


	4. Familial Schism

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTES:
> 
> In regards to pairings there's going to be some strategic flirting. I mean, c'mon. It's Fallout, guys - there's usually an option. And have you guys even seen the amount of Undertale stories with Frisk as the smooth-talking, flirts with anything that has a pulse (but even that's not a requirement) type of character? Other than that, I don't really have any pairing planned - mostly just mentioning former relationships.
> 
> It there is going to be one, I'd have to give it some serious thought. But hey! If you got an idea for a romance, I encourage you to write your own story! We need more fics for this category (and others), so feel free to make your own story. Besides, most of the best inspiration comes from going "there aren't any fics that I specifically want, so I guess I gotta make it myself" type of thing.
> 
> I, myself, have been tinkering with a couple concepts for other stories. Such as a Steven Universe one where some late-emerged gems are raised believing they were a group of human children abandoned in the desert, a Powerpuff timetravel/alternate dimension exploring a darker reality to the lab accident, and one where Sokka becomes a waterbender because the newly-ascended Yue just couldn't stop herself from interacting with him when he was young.
> 
> That last one is honestly the one I am most excited for, along with the mighty plans I have in mind for this fic. They are both beloved properties, though, so I need to be careful with them.
> 
> The most developed one I have right now (in terms of being able to actually release it, at least) is, weirdly enough, the Powerpuff one. Don't get me wrong, though - this fic literally has like ten documents with nearly ten thousand words each, but I need to really figure out how my planned AU ideas fit into the story in a way that DOESN'T make people go "these characters are strangers to me".
> 
> But! It's my New Year's Resolution to update this story at least once a month! And, hopefully, if my classes don't get too intense, I can meet that deadline.
> 
> -0-
> 
> DISCLAIMER:
> 
> Here's where the higher ratings really kick in. It's not that graphic or anything, but, if you're particularly sensitive, then I guess skip down to the third (-0-0-0-) in the story and read from there.
> 
> Oh, I've also updated all of the previous chapters, and standardized the formatting. If there's any issues, then let me know in the comments.
> 
> ~ Enjoy!

**-0-0-0-**

"I don't trust a man that doesn't have something strange going on about him, 'cause that means he's hiding it from you. If a man's wearing his pants on his head or if he says his words backwards from time to time, you know it's all laid out there for you. But if he's friendly to strangers and keeps his home spick-and-span, more often than not he's done something even his own ma couldn't forgive."

— _No-Bark Noonan,_ Fallout: New Vegas

"I helped them, and they helped me. Understand that survival requires that you work together, even with people you may not trust."

— _Vault Dweller's memoirs, introduction of the_ Fallout 2 _manual_

**-0-0-0-**

"I'm sorry it had to end that way," Rin said awkwardly. "You know violence isn't my style, Amata, but I... I just... I couldn't..."

"I'm sure you did everything you could to find another way. I know how stubborn he is... how stubborn he was." Amata smiled tiredly as she looked out into the light through the giant gear that was the Vault door, basking in what little sunlight filtered through. "We don't have time to grieve. The Vault needs a leader now. We can open up limited trade with nearby settlements and other areas, and see the world we've been missing. Maybe even meet new people..."

Amata's smile faded. "But it's still important that I protect our Vault, and keep the people within it safe from the dangers of the Wasteland. Even when those dangers have helped us in the past. And that makes the rest of this even harder."

Rin turned to Amata and furrowed her brow. "What are you trying to tell me?"

"You saved us. But that doesn't change the fact that you killed one of us to do it, and I can't let that sort of thing stand here. I guess it's a bit familiar. You've already been forced out of the Vault once before. At least now you know what's out there. I'm sorry. You're a hero... and you have to leave." (1)

Rin blinked at a shame-faced Amata. "I'm sorry, 'one of us'? Are you fucking serious?! Stop talking like I didn't grow up here, like we haven't spent the last twenty one years growing up together!"

"Look, I-I'm _sorry,_ ok? Some people still blame you for what happened, and the Vault just can't take any more in-fighting. It's just what has to be. But once the Vault is stable again, maybe we'll see you out there. This is more of a goodbye for now. It's not much, but take this with you, to remember us by." Amata handed Rin a modified utility jumpsuit, who took it more out of habit then anything else (2). Amata stepped back and gave Rin a half-hearted grin. "With luck, we'll meet again. Good luck."

Amata turned and started to walk away from the vault entrance, rubbing at her eyes with the sleeve of her jumpsuit.

"So that's it, then?" Confused, Amata turned back to face Rin, who was clutching the jumpsuit with white knuckles. "I dropped everything I was doing to run back here, left an entire base full of soldiers who were at the brink of a full-on war, just so I could help you with your problem, and all I get is this _fucking t-shirt_?" She spat as she threw the offending rag down behind her.

"W-we don't have much to give-" Amata took a step back as Rin harshly laughed.

"Is that what you think this is about? Fuck, Amata, you don't even know what it's like to be out there! It's _hell._ There's a group of people who worship an unexploded nuclear bomb. There's an entire city out there filled with people who are _walking corpses_. There's an entire army of soldiers who won't hesitate to kill you, me, and everyone else in this Vault, and I had to watch them _kill my dad_!"

Rin's raised voice reverberated though the metal hallways, and drew the attention of those nearby. The nearby officers, even the ones afraid of getting too close to the door, started moving closer to the commotion so that they could get a better look.

Amata paled and covered her mouth in shock. "James is... your father is dead?" She whispered. (3)

"Yeah, he is. It's not like you ever seemed to care before this point. But I guess that you were too busy being worried about your fucking crazy-ass dad then asking about mine, huh?"

"That is _not_ fair, and you know it-"

"Oh, so _now_ you want to talk about fairness? Was what happened to Jonas fair? You saw him, he was _tortured_ before he died, all because he wouldn't tell him where my dad was. I saw the blood splatter, the scalples, the _wrench._ Was that fair, then, Amata?"

"That doesn't mean that _my_ father deserved to die, Rin!" Amata snapped back angrily, finally losing her patience. "You killed him in cold blood, and I can't let that sort of thing stand here. We have ways to deal with people who break our laws. You can't just go around and shoot them!"

"I did what had to be done. I've already had to put down one tyrannical mad dog, and I'd do it again if I had to-"

_*SLAP!*_

Rin pressed a hand to her face where Amata hit her in shock.

"Maybe you've _conveniently_ forgotten after being out there," Amata whispered into the silence between them. "But that is _my father_ that you are talking about. Down here, we DO NOT take justice into our own hands. We are supposed to deal out punishments that fit the crime after we go over the evidence. My God, we're supposed to be civilized! We can't kill people because we disagree with them. And you... You didn't even hesitate to pull the trigger on my father. And that made me realize that I don't even _know_ you anymore: maybe I never did. I guess what my father said was right. Now that you've been out there, you stopped caring about anyone but yourself. Never come back here after you leave. You will _never_ be welcome here again."

Amata turned to leave the room, but stopped when she heard Rin laughing.

"You really think that there would have been _justice?"_ Rin chuckled darkly. "Open your eyes, Amata! Would your father really have gotten what he deserved for everything that he's done? Do you know who heads a tribunal, _missus Overseer_? Who _ordered_ Jonas' death? Who was about to stand by and watch while his own flesh and blood was beaten? 'Who is indisputably the most important person in Vault 101?'."

"I think the greatest thing that's ever happened to me was leaving this stupid little hellhole, if only so I don't have to hear anymore _bullshit_ about how glorious our overseer is! If you happen to have another problem down here, don't even bother bitching about it on the radio, Amata, because you will not get help from me, _or anybody else in the Capital Wasteland if I can help it_!"

Ignoring the hurt and rage in Amata's eyes, she marched to the exit ramp. However, Officer Taylor moved to stand in front of the catwalk that led to the outside.

"Just cycle the damn door, Taylor. I've had enough of you and your sycophantic nonsense. I just want to get the fuck out of here." She growled at him, obviously adjusting the strap of her charged laser musket when it looked like he was about to shoulder his rifle.

Taylor gritted his teeth, the fingers on the barrel of the gun went white. For a moment, Rin was certain that she'd have to fight her way out (which would be an easy fight on her part, with their extremely basic equipment). Then, with loud foot falls against the sheet metal of the Vault, Taylor marched past her, deliberately slamming his shoulder against hers as she passed. "Good riddance, you bitch."

"Takes one to know one," Rin called back at him without even glancing back.

The giant gear was finally starting its cycle to close when she felt the bullet rip through her calf. Unable to support herself, Rin fell off the walkway as it was yanked out from under her and tumbled into the tread of the Vault door, her head slamming into the sharp edge. Darkness danced at the edge of her vision.

( _Ohmygodstopitstopitrightnow_ Nowaytostopitoncethecycleisinitiated)

Dazed, she sat up and raised a hand to touch the painful gash across the side of her head. Her hand came away covered in red.

( _Wehavetohelpher_ Theresnotime)

A shrill scream drew her attention back to the control panel.

(Fuckheranyways _WhathaveIdone_ IsaygoodriddanceShesnotoneofusShesnotoneofus)

The last thing she saw was Amata looking on in horror while white-knuckle gripping a smoking rifle, with an empty handed Taylor standing smugly behind her. The view was blocked by a giant gear and then there was pressurepresSUREPAINPAIN _AGǪ̶̐ͅ N̸̪̅Y̴̞͖͗̅_-

-0-0-0-

Rin jolted upright, gasping for breath (shecouldn't _breathe_ ) as she desperately clutched clumps of hair in her hands and pressed her palms against her head (squeezingpressurepaincracking) while her knees drew up to her chest (bonessnapping). Inhaling deeply (theairwasforcedoutofherlungs), Rin shuddered as she willed the phantom sensations to fade.

 _God, I need a cigarette,_ Rin thought to herself as her pulse thundered in her ears. She reached up to use her Pip-Boy to get one -

\- and cursed as she touched bare flesh, reminding her of the situation she was in.

 _That goat-mutant probably has the pack I kept there somewhere in the house, and its probably just sitting there next to the rest of my stuff._ Rin closed her eyes and buried her head into the crook of her elbow. _Whatever Dogmeat carried for me is also gone, including his armor. It had to be stored around the house somewhere, and I lost my chance to look. What might have been my_ only _chance... Maybe... I just needed a little more_ time _to do a more detailed search..._

Dogmeat was barking from somewhere further in the house. Rin jolted upright, silently sliding off the bed and quickly moving to her blocked doorway as she listened for what could have set her dog off. There were low, indecipherable tones of a woman - Toriel? - talking, and then Frisk laughing as Dogmeat whined.

Rin stood and rubbed her neck. _Right. Dogmeat's probably still out with Frisk, since I never told him to come back last night..._ _Well, now that I'm up, I might as well see what the commotion was._ Glancing down at her weapon, she placed it on the ground and shoved it under the bed with her foot. _No need to chance that remaining in sight and then_ mysteriously _go missing.  
_

Sliding the chair to the side, Rin then left her room and made her way down the hallway.

-0-0-0-

She quietly walked through the empty living room. Hiding behind the wall, she peeked her head around the corner and looked inside the kitchen.

Frisk stood on the chair next to the counter with a small blue flour-dusted apron tied around their waist. They were intently watching Toriel, in a similar (but less flour-y) apron,

"... and then you press it down into the pan. You need to be gentle for this, as your fingers could accidentally push through the dough. And after that, we add the filling. Are you ready to try?" Frisk grinned and nodded.

Reaching over to the side, they gently picked up a disc of dough off the countertop. Their tongue stuck out in concentration as they lowered it into the pie tin, before gently prodding the crust into shape with their fingers. Twisting the pan from side to side, they nervously glanced up at Toriel.

"Very good! Well done, my child!" She smiled down at them happily, and Frisk beamed back at her, adoration etched across their face.

Rin felt awkward, like she was intruding into a disgustingly idealistic pre-war domestic scene that would get printed on one of those propaganda posters. Mother and child baking and laughing, and the family dog below them looking for handouts and scraps... but with a mysterious and menacing stranger standing behind them in the doorway watching them. She could almost see the caption now: ' _Your family may feel safe... but do you know who's_ actually _living around the corner_?'.

( _dangerous,_ unwelcome _strangers linger nearby, right below your nose!_ )

She was still debating with herself whether or not to intrude upon their private moment when Dogmeat, who was lying in the corner of the room, noticed her. He stood up and trotted over to his master, his happy barks startling both of the humans and the sole monster. Rin automatically crouched down to greet him, ignoring the others in the kitchen in favor of her companion.

"Hey, buddy." Rin scratched his neck, and was forced to lean back as he tried to lick her face. "Alright, easy now!" She laughed as she beckoned him to sit. "Were you a good boy for Frisk and missus Toriel, huh?" She glanced up at Toriel with a raised eyebrow as she ran her fingers through the soft fur on his chest.

"He didn't cause any problems at all." Toriel bowed her head slightly. "He has stayed out of the way while we were working. In fact," her lips pulled up in a small smile. "I do believe he kept young Frisk here company the entire night."

Rin wasn't surprised, since he was ordered to stay with them, but she gave a small gasp anyways as if she was while she turned her attention to them. "Oh really? Did he keep you warm last night? Normally when we go to bed he's a big cuddler!" Which was a slight lie, since he was often put on guard duty while they were out and about, but whenever he wasn't given orders he'd lay with her.

Frisk nodded rapidly, a grin stretched across their flour-speckled face.

"That's my boy." Rin smiled and patted Dogmeat on the head before standing. "So, what are you guys making?"

Toriel clapped her hands together and smiled. "Frisk has been helping me to make a special treat for this evening. It's not finished quite yet, of course, but I had believed you would need much more time to, ah, rest and heal after that encounter with that despicable creature. I am sorry if we were too loud and woke you up."

"It's fine, I needed to get up anyways," Rin waved it off. "Besides, I'm a light sleeper. I'd usually have an alarm set to wake up early, but..." she trailed off, holding up her right arm and shaking it, "... its sorta missing right now."

The goat woman's eyes widened. "Oh! Your gauntlet. I had noticed it was made of metal and glass, but I didn't realize that it had that function when I removed it..."

"You were the one to take it off, not that... plant monster, then? I altered the bio-metric myself, so it must've given you trouble when you hacked it, hmm?" Rin asked. She had figured the 'monster' woman had something to do with it, as to take it off required opposable thumbs. That also meant that the woman had experience with Vault Tec technology-

Toriel's eyes widened. "Goodness, I didn't hack it off your arm, dear! You had a wound underneath the gauntlet, and it was not healing properly. I did not see the... um, _geometric_ lock at the time, and it would not slide off your arm. So I just ... pulled and then it came off?" she finished with a sheepish ( _goatish_?) smile.

"... it what." It took every ounce of self control for Rin not to immediately come back at her with a snarling retort, something along the lines of _how fucking_ strong _are you to be able to pull apart solid steel_?, but she needed to stay in the woman's good graces to get the rest of her stuff back.

"W-well, it needed to come off!" Toriel hastily explained, reading the partially-concealed anger and disbelief that flashed across Rin's face. "You had already lost a lot off blood, and there was a very severe injury underneath that was not healing. I had to remove the gauntlet before I brought you back, otherwise I was afraid you would... Well," Toriel glanced at Frisk and cleared her throat, pointedly glancing back at Rin with an eyebrow raised.

It seems as if she didn't want to talk about her most recent near-death experience in front of the kid. While that would normally be fine, it wasn't really fair to Frisk to /not talk about it with them - they were at her side when she nearly died, and that must have caused _some_ kind of mental trauma. She needed to drop it for now, but since Toriel was going to try to ignore it completely, it was clear that she would need to talk to the kid in private about it later.

"And where is my 'gauntlet' now? Or the bag that was with me?" Rin asked, diverting the subject from her near-demise to safer areas.

"I was in a rush to get you two back here before anything else could hurt you, so they were both left behind. I'm sorry," Toriel apologized quietly as Rin hunched her shoulders at the news.

"It was an emergency. I understand. It's just..." Running a hand through her hair, the elder human sighed. "My, er, _'gauntlet'_ is... well, I guess you could say that it's an heirloom. It was given to me a long time ago. And my bags had pretty much everything I've ever owned inside."

"Ah," Toriel nodded slowly. "I can see that they are very important to you. In that case, I shall accompany you to your things after young Frisk and I have finished making our dinner for tonight."

"Oh, you don't have to do that, Ma'am. I would hate to trouble you anymore than I already have." Rin politely back peddled as hard as she could. Toriel couldn't go with her, because she sincerely doubted that the seemingly peaceful goat woman would be pleased that a good chunk of what she owned was dangerous.

"It wouldn't be any trouble at all, dear. While, I can understand your... urgency to go and retrieve your things, it's dangerous to go exploring by yourself. In addition, I need to make a journey there myself, as I usually pass through there every day to see if anyone has fallen down."

"... How often _do_ people fall down here?" Rin asked slowly. If the woman felt the need to check it every day, then there were probably a number of other humans that had fallen. (She wasn't going to tell Toriel about the cave in - from the way things were going, she'd see it for herself soon enough anyways.)

Toriel was quiet for a moment, looking both contemplative and reminiscent. "You two are actually the first humans to come here in a very long time," she said quietly, glancing off to the side.

There was something about how she said it - in a saddened, nostalgic sort of way - that made Rin understand that the answer to her unspoken follow-up question of 'where are those other humans now' would not be a pleasant one.

The goat woman cleared her throat. "A-anyways, we are nearly done in the kitchen. Why don't you have a seat while we finish our task, and then we can all go together afterwards. In fact..." Toriel quickly strode past Rin towards the living room bookshelf. Bending over slightly, she pulled out a thin orange-colored book out and turned back to the elder human with a smile. "I do believe that this one will be most useful to you."

Rin only hesitated for a brief moment, long enough to shoot Frisk a quick grin, before making her way over and grabbing the book from the other woman.

"'72 Uses for Snails'," she read off the title, eyebrows furrowing as she took in the weird creature pictured in the bottom half of the book's cover.

"After our 'discussion' yesterday, I believe that this would be the most appropriate to read. Please feel free to make yourself at home." Rin stiffened as Toriel patted her head as she walked by her and back towards the kitchen

The goat woman crouched down in front of Frisk as she addressed them. "Are you ready to get back to work?" Frisk nodded rapidly, and Toriel chuckled.

"Excellent. Well, then, _pie_ believe we _crust_ need to make the filling. Come, my child! _Flour_ work is not yet done!" Toriel stood up as she finished her little proclamation, with a hand on her hip as she pointed towards the kitchen.

Grinning brightly, Frisk cheered and ran back into the kitchen. The goat woman glanced towards the eldest human as their back was turned, and the two women traded amused looks before Toriel followed after them at a more sedate pace.

As soon as they had both definitively left the room, Rin rolled her eyes and furiously ran a hand through her hair to fix it. "Yeah, sure, let's go bake a pie while my gear gets poached by the locals," she muttered under her breath, growling softly as her fingers found a particularly tangled knot in her hair.

Letting the loose strands of hair that had broken off fall to the floor, Rin looked back down at the book in her hands and opened the book, letting it fall open to a random page. "'Snails produce a mucus which helps keep their soft bodies from drying out, and which may leave a residue across surfaces in a slime trail' - so basically they're little slimy snot goblins. Good to know."

Rin closed the book and stared down at the little picture on the front, trying to commit what it looked like to memory: brown and curly thing on its back with a greenish body that had two long antenna-like things coming off the front (or at least she thought it was the front, since that as the side that had been closest to the camera). She didn't know whether or not it even _had_ eyes, but the antennas made it look remarkably alien.

(And she would know a thing or two about aliens.)

 _While snails look like a pretty interesting topic_ , Rin thought to herself as she balanced the snail book on the arm of the large chair in front of the fireplace. She then crouched down to look at the other books on the shelf, partially pulling some of them out when they had blank spines. _There's gotta be something more... relevant that I could read instead_.

There were a lot of books on the shelves that seemed educational in nature. The bottom shelf consisted of math and English books that ranged from a simple primers on adding/subtracting numbers and understanding the alphabet, to an advanced algebra textbook and a five-book series of thick encyclopedias.

The top shelf had some well-worn books that ranged from cookbooks to a smattering of random fact-based books like the snail one she had been given. However, it did look like someone had removed a small collection of books from the right side of the top shelf, as there was a book that seemed to prop up the rest of the books from falling over. It looked well-worn like the rest of them, but, unlike the others, it was very dusty and looked like it hadn't actually been touched in a long time.

(Then again, if humans didn't even come down here often, then perhaps it simply wasn't needed?)

It was on the middle shelf, between two relatively esoteric books about magic and souls where she found a slim, seemingly forgotten tome in between two large books that seemed to be just what she was looking for.

Wary of destroying the book or its cover, she delicately pulled it out and flipped it over. Like its spine, the cover read 'Monster History Part 3' (4). Even though she couldn't find parts one or two, hopefully it would give her a better idea of what she could expect down here.

Tucking the snail book underneath her newly acquired Rin took a seat on the large chair in front of the fireplace (which had much more cushion than anything that she's ever sat on in her entire life, which was including the bed she had in the Vault) and stretched her legs out so her bare feet were in front of the fire. And, even though it placed her back to the kitchen, Rin felt pretty confident that neither Toriel nor Frisk would sneak up from behind her for nefarious purposes (Toriel didn't seem to be the type for violence, and Frisk... well, the chances of them getting a hand on a weapon in Toriel's kitchen.

Dogmeat, who had been watching his master in silence, took the opportunity to jump onto the cushion besides her. Surprised, Rin didn't object as he turned on the spot and laid down, sprawling across her lap.

"Hey, bud, are you ok?" Rin asked quietly as she scratched his neck. He suddenly threw his head back as he tried to expose his belly to her, and she chuckled fondly. "Are you just feeling clingy, huh? That's alright, boy; I guess you've earned it."

Now comfortably seated, Rin opened the -apparently it was hand-written- history book and started to learn about the subterranean world in which she found herself.

**-0-0-0-**

"If there's anything I learned as a Follower of the Apocalypse, it's that there's a lot of good information in old books."

— _Caesar,_ Fallout: New Vegas

"Learning from books? Not exactly efficient."

— _X6-88_ , Fallout 4

**-0-0-0-**

The sweet smell of baking pie filled the air as Rin stared down at the final chapter of the book, idly rubbing her chin as she re-read the words for the fifth time in a row.

' _... At the mouth of the cavern, in between the rampaging humans and the final remnants of monster civilization, stood our final line of protectors. Our king, even though he disdained violence, stood with them, knowing that this would be their final stand. But, before the bloodthirsty mob of humans could approach and breach our cavern, our last stand, they arrived._

_Six magic users emerged from the crowd, followed by the strongest, and most treacherous, sorcerer humanity had ever produced: the butcher of Caprine, X̶X̶X̶X̶ (see Monster History 1 and 2 for more details) (5)._

_As they king plead with X̶X̶X̶X̶ for Mercy, and begged the wizard to spare his people, the wizards encircled the mouth of the cave and charged their staves._

_We had thought that this is where Monster-kind would end._

_However, the humans had other plans._

_Working together, the seven human sorcerers -'_

The legible text ended halfway down the page. Like the name of the mysterious 'Butcher of Caprine', the other half of the page was harshly blotted out with an ink pen to the point where the rest of the text was blotchy and hard to read. There had been significant gaps in the lower pages where the text was black, as if a fountain pen had been placed on a page until the ink had reached the cover - meaning that she _literally_ only had half the story. She had been able to read some of the words, and had just about made out that monsters had been herded out of their villages by humans (who were using very primitive weaponry) and into the caves under Ebbot.

However, most of the details were lost to the ink - In fact, the only part of the book that was untouched by the ink was the very last page - as if whoever had ruined the book had left it untouched - which had a single paragraph printed on its page.

 _'Trapped behind the barrier and fearful of further human attacks, we retreated. Far, far into the earth we walked, until we reached the cavern's end. This was our new home, which we named... 'Home.' As great as our king is, he is pretty lousy at names_. (6)'

Leaning back in the chair, Rin idly ran her finger over the crusty-feeling blotch where the ink had bled through the rest of the book. "Why would someone try to hide this though though?"

"Hide what?"

Rin jerked in surprise and snapped the book closed, Dogmeat jumping down off the chair with a chuff as he was forced down.

Toriel was standing in the middle of the living room, drying her hands on a kitchen towel as she looked at Rin. How she had managed to sneak up on her was a mystery, but, apparently, the giant woman was as quiet as a cat when she walked.

She glanced down at the book Rin was futility trying to hide and frowned. "What are you reading?"

"Oh, well, um..." Rin sweated for a moment, trying to figure out if she could try to get away with lying...

... but sighed when she realized that she didn't have the **C** harisma for it and it would probably fail anyways.

"I was reading this book from your shelf," Rin said, offering the book to the Toriel. "But a lot of the text was ruined."

"Ruined?" The goat woman took the book and flipped it open. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth in shock. "Oh my... I... I had no idea it was like this. You said it was like this when you started reading it?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Ah...," Toriel flipped the pages slowly, and seeing that every page was the same, closed it softly. "I... have not thought about this book in a long time... and to see it destroyed..." she trailed off.

"Did you write it?" Rin asked as she slowly stood from the chair, trying not to startle the woman out of whatever state the woman was now in

"No... no, this was the first edition of a book that was written by a... family friend," Toriel let out a tired sigh as she ran a thumb over the front cover. "I wonder how he's doing now..."

"Where is your friend now?"

"He is... _elsewhere."_ With that, Toriel seemed to snap out of it and held the book close to her chest. "Well, thank you for bringing this to my attention. I appreciate you being honest with me, dear." She smiled as she bowed slightly - as if she hadn't just admitted to knowing that Rin was debating on bullshitting her way out of it.

"Y-yeah. You're welcome." Rin grinned nervously.

Frisk chose that moment to come out of the kitchen, idly adjusting their flour-caked sweater as they walked towards Toriel. Their blank face morphed into a wide grin when they finally seemed to notice Rin's presence, and they threw out their arms as if they were about to hug her.

Rin quickly put a hand on their head to stop their approach. "Woah there, kiddo. I'd love to give you a hug and all, but have you _looked_ at yourself recently?" Their brows furrowed as they looked down at their clothes and back up to Rin. They didn't seem to understand what the problem was. "You're absolutely covered in flour. And I'm only borrowing this dress, so I don't want to get it all dirty, y'know?"

Frisk's eyes widened and they looked back down at themselves, pulling the hem of their shirt away from themselves to look. Rin took the opportunity to glance at Toriel, to see if she had gotten the hint that she wanted her clothes back. However, it seemed like it had gone straight over her head, since she was also looking down at the small child in surprise.

"I did not realize how messy you had gotten..." Toriel crouched down next to Frisk and ruffled their hair, grimacing slightly as a puff of flour puffed out from the motion. "Oh dear..."

(Rin discretely tried to brush her own flour-dusted hand off on the arm of the couch next to her)

"Hmm... not to worry!" Toriel stood up and smiled down at the young human and extended her hand. "There are some spare clothes in your bedroom that you can change into after you clean up." Frisk glanced over at Rin. "Ah! You wouldn't mind waiting to go out for a little while longer, would you, Rin?" She asked in a firm, commanding tone that suggested that it _really_ wasn't a question.

"I... no. I don't mind." She said as Frisk shot her a skeptical look "No, really. I don't mind waiting here for a little while longer. I've got plenty of things to keep me occupied. Go and get cleaned up - I'll still be here when you get out."

Even though they still seemed skeptical, they took Toriel's hand anyways.

The 'monster' woman smiled as they led Frisk away. "Wonderful. Now, let me show you where everything is, hmm? Please don't be afraid to ask any questions..."

As their low voices disappeared down the hallway, Rin glanced back down at the '72 Uses for Snails' she still held. She huffed a laugh before tossing it onto the chair's cushion.

Hearing the shower start up from the hallway, Rin quickly crept over to the living room's doorway and then into the entryway. Toriel stood with her back to the bathroom door and was staring at the ruined book in her hands. She leaned back against the door as she sighed, pressing it to her chest in a hug as she sniffed wetly and rubbed at her eyes.

Rin watched Toriel make her way to her bedroom and close the door behind her before acting. Turning to Dogmeat, she motioned for him to sit. She leaned down to give him a one-armed hug as she whispered her orders. "Hey, buddy, can you watch over Frisk for me? And warn me if anyone comes out, alright?" She whispered softly, smiling as he whined and shoved his muzzle under her free palm. "I know I said I'd wait, and I will..."

She stood and walked to the mysterious basement stairwell. There was a cold breeze that emitted from it, which made the hem of her borrowed silk dress flutter.

"After all..." Rin muttered to herself as she slowly made her way down. "I said I wouldn't go outside. I didn't say anything about _not_ exploring."

* * *

**-0-0-0-**

**NOTES:**

1- This line is taken from Fallout 3 directly from Amata, which she will give if the Lone Wanderer does not kill anyone in Vault 101 and convinces her father to stand down and give leadership to Amata (I believe those are the requirements? I might be wrong, though. The dialogue files I took this from don't say).

And, yeah, I am fully aware of the implications given in the speech. _Hint hin_ \- _*btzzz!*_ _...ow._

2- In Fallout, if you're given something by an NPC in their dialogue like this, you automatically take it. Actually, if any NPC gives anything to you in a Bethesda game your character takes it automatically (Skyrim/Oblivion couriers, anyone?).

3- Yeah, looking at Amata's dialogue tree, she doesn't even ask or comment on it at all. Nobody in the Vault does, except for the one who greets you at the door (which, depending on who survives in the Vault during the escape, could be one of two people. I can't actually recall which ones they are right now though. If someone tells me who they are, I'll check and add it!)

4- Yes, this is my headcannon as to what the book that the player reads on the bookshelf in Toriel's living room. Also, there's 'Monster History 4' in Snowdin, but you never actually see any other ones throughout the game. Perhaps the player wasn't interested in looking at the title o̶r̶ ̶a̶l̶r̶e̶a̶d̶y̶ ̶k̶n̶e̶w̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶?

5- A little setup for later plot, and my first real instance of the AU portion of the story! I'm not going to put what a caprine actually is, and I'd appreciate it if no one actually puts down what it is in the comments, because this is something I'm planning for later.

So yeah! I'm gonna try to expand upon the original monster war... Eventually. Maybe. Might just do a Toby Fox...

6- This is the actual text of the book in Toriel's bookshelf, though, like mentioned above, you never see the title of the book you're reading.

* * *

**-0-0-0-**

**OMAKE**

Rin: "Ey, Amata! You and I have another thing in common now - our dads' are dead!"

Amata: *screeches and tries to strangle Rin*

Rin: "Why are you booing me when I'm right?!"

**DELETED SCENE**

*I took this scene out because I found a better intro opening scene. It might might show up in some way later, but for now, it is delegated here. Quick question though: how does an alarm wake someone up silently?*

(MILDLY) ALARMED

Rin awakes in her room, and, after waking up automatically checked to see why her alarm hadn't gone off and tries to check her Pip-Boy. She remembers it is missing

Whenever she had found a place to sleep, she would set a timer on her Pip-Boy, which would give a small annoying corporate chime that would get louder and louder until you woke up and turned it off yourself - which had once, according to rumors floating around Vault 101, alerted them to the death of an elderly resident, a miserly man who worked as the head of engineering named Howard Toddy, whose alarm could be heard from even the Overseer's office by the time his fellow engineers had managed to undo the changes he had made to essentially lock-down his room.

However, she had found that impractical in the wasteland, especially in the times where that would potentially give her position away to enemies. She was often forced to sleep mere feet from their patrols, and even something as benign as an alarm clock would get you killed.

Eventually, she managed to delete the chime and programmed it to give her an electric shock instead. Now, one could argue that was a step down from the chime since it was a somewhat painful jolt, and that perhaps simply setting a vibrate function would have been enough. But it did it was quiet and did its job, and woke you up quicker than a slap to the face.

(... Ok, to be honest, it may have been _somewhat_ impractical, moderately dangerous, and _kinda_ painful, but she missed it nonetheless.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -0-0-0-
> 
> A.N.
> 
> Heyo! Long time no see, eh? Ah, well, sometimes I get stuck, or I go ahead and work on later chapters because I get an inspired idea for it. And that happened surprisingly often when I was trying to write this.
> 
> But hey! I started out this story with practically no plan, and now I've got several somethings planned! In fact, as I backed up this story on my home PC, I found out I have almost hundred thousand words for it! Which, of course there are some quotes, notes, and disclaimers in it (because I basically copy-pasted everything onto a word document), as well as some area-specific outlines and early-draft scene concepts that I sincerely doubt I'm ever going to put into the story except as a deleted scene, but holy shit guys! That also doesn't include the ten thousand word quote pages I got (which is funny, because in the beginning I was struggling to find quotes to use!)!
> 
> So, guys - this story is far, far from over. Unless something were to (god forbid) happen to me, then I'm ready to write!
> 
> ... on the other hand, to be on the safe side, if there /is something that happens to me, I'd try to/like someone to put the entire plot/pages I got so far up, along with every quote page and other fic ideas/concept that I have on FFN to be posted onto the relevant topic areas.
> 
> Anyways, I do have two classes coming up, one of which is a history of Ancient Philosophy, and I'm guessing that's going to get real intensive real quick. I made it my New Years resolution to try to update this once a month, so later in the semester that might get a little more difficult to do it.


	5. Razbliuto

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Razbliuto (Russian):
> 
> The sentimental feeling you can often feel towards someone you used to love but no longer do
> 
> NOTES:
> 
> So we're back again. It's weird doing this under a stricter timeline. Hell, I thought that 2020 was supposed to be more productive, ya know? All that time at home, just being able to have time to myself, and yet I don't think I actually posted anything that year except one time.
> 
> Now, granted, that year I did come up with a lot of the plot points I want to hit, but, other than some test paragraphs, those really aren't finished at all. Eh, it might be harder to write now, but that's just because its the set-up. I have some good action and mysteries planned, though - we just need to get there!
> 
> Also, I did see someone comment on Rin's name, and, yeah, it is a bit weird. Honestly, when I first started this story, I really needed a name - I couldn't fuckin' put up a story with an unnamed protagonist only denotated with [NAME] tags (which I use for stuff that I'm not sure about. The square brackets are something that I use to easily find things that I've marked for changes when I use the 'search' function on my web browser). So, I just went 'fuck it', replaced all those tags with the name 'Rin', posted the chapter, and that was about it.
> 
> Honestly, I realized I was getting attached to it when I stopped searching for other names and actually started using it in my notes. Also, I was tired of getting all the really targeted ads going 'oh so you're about to have a baby here's everything you need at inconvenient prices!'. I fucking still get Pampers ads on YouTube multiple times in a row and I sincerely despise them.
> 
> Though I doubt I'm gonna change it at this point (I've kinda worked out why she has such an unusual name), I will tell everyone if I do and update the previous chapters to reflect it.
> 
> -0-
> 
> DISCLAIMER:
> 
> As always, I don't own either Fallout or Undertale.
> 
> Please don't walk barefoot on cold stone. Also, don't randomly explore other people's houses, because that's just rude.
> 
> Oh, and, please, unless you have something to add or highlight, don't write in books. Especially those that don't belong to you. After all, you never know what it means to other people...
> 
> Enjoy~

"I just hope that one day, these kids'll grow up to go some good for this place, after all the evil that's been done here."

— _Old Man Harris_ , Fallout 3

**-0-0-0-**

Toriel idly hummed as she filled a glass cup with water from the sink. When it was full, she set it on the counter and grabbed a second cup from nearby and placed it under the water.

"Are you going to bed soon?" A deep voice asked from behind her as a pair of arms snaked their way around her waist. She smiled as she leaned back into a warm chest.

"Yes, I just need to tend to the children first before I do." Turning off the faucet, Toriel placed the filled cup beside the other one and turned to face her beloved husband. He was wearing the large bath robe with lovely multicolored flower patterns on it that she had gotten for him in the marketplace that was emerging in the area with the natural waterfalls (that he husband had _so_ conspicuously named 'Waterfall'), and he looked so handsome wearing it.

"Would you like me to do it tonight?" Asgore asked as he gently grabbed her hands and squeezed gently. "I could read them a story if you with to turn in early."

"You _could_ do that, but I'm not the one who has to wake up early and check on the progress on the CORE tomorrow," Toriel raised an eyebrow teasingly as his eyes widened in surprise.

"A-Ah, right. Of course." Asgore smiled sheepishly and ducked his head slightly. "Thank you for reminding me, my love," he leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Of course, dear. I had a feeling you had for _goat_ ten it." Toriel grinned.

Asgore chuckled softly at her joke as he pulled her in for a hug. "Sleep well, dear." Her husband's voice rumbled in his chest as he spoke, and Toriel sighed happily against him.

"You as well." They pulled apart as Asgore hesitantly stepped away. Exchanging one last set of goodbyes, her husband finally disappeared around the corner and went to his room.

Toriel smiled and, after waiting a moment to make sure that Asgore had some time to say his own goodnight to their children, Toriel grabbed the two cups filled with water and made her way to the first door in the hall.

Both of her children were curled up under their covers, though only the right-most lamp was switched on inside. Toriel placed both cups of water on either side of their bookshelf in the middle of their room (though not too close to the edge so it couldn't be accidentally knocked off if they accidentally hit it), and walked over to her human child.

On the far left of the room, Chara laid curled up in a tight ball with their back to the rest of the room as they normally did when they slept. They always seemed so tense at night, and sometimes she worried they weren't sleeping very well. Frowning slightly at their rigid shoulders and back, Toriel adjusted their covers and gingerly petted their head, infusing some green magic into her hand as she went. They seemed to slowly relax into the mattress as she continued until, with a soft sigh, they stretched out and relaxed fully. With a soft smile, Toriel gently kissed them on the head.

Backing away slowly as to not bother their now-relaxed slumber, Toriel carefully padded over to the other bed in the room. Asriel laid on his back, frowning up at his blank ceiling with his hands folded over his stomach and a small crease in between his eyebrows.

"Hello, my darling," Toriel whispered softly as she sat on the side of her son's bed. "It's bed time now. What are you thinking about that has you so distracted?"

"I was just wondering... what was life on the surface like before we were sealed down here?" Asriel asked quietly.

"You... want to know about what our life on the surface was like?" Startled at his topic, Toriel blinked rapidly. "Why are you thinking about that?"

"Well, Chara was telling me about the surface," Asriel sat up in his bed and hesitantly glanced over at his adopted sibling. "They were talking about stuff like the flower field near their village, an' then they were telling me about another HUMAN village that was really far away, but they'd still come to trade for stuff. They had to travel for a really long time to get there too, an' it'd take _months_ for them to get back!" His voice had become louder and louder until he finished his tirade with an excited shout.

Toriel quickly shushed him and glanced back over towards Chara, who was thankfully still sleeping and relaxed under the covers. She turned back to her son and raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, mom." He whispered extra-quietly with an apologetic smile.

"I accept your apology, but please try to remember your volume next time?" Toriel smiled as her son nodded, but then she became much more grim and serious. "And you should be careful about who you ask that question to. Some MONSTERS would react very poorly to it, so I would ask that you do not go around questioning people about it."

Asriel curled in on himself as she spoke, and, when she finished. he was looking extremely chastised.

"'M sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up..." he whispered sadly, fiddling with a loose thread on his blanket while he tried to avoid looking her in the eye.

Toriel's stern countenance melted away at the sight of her son looking so dejected. He was just a child - he couldn't possibly understand the emotional minefield that he just tread upon. But he would be ripping open old wounds if he went around carelessly asking THAT question.

After all, even if a single HUMAN falling into the Underground was a miracle, not every MONSTER agreed that a HUMAN should live among them.

(Revenge was but a single soul away for some, and others were afraid that there was little chance that another HUMAN would ever fall down here again (1))

"Oh, my dear child. It is only natural to be curious," Toriel began softly, reaching out to take his small hands in her own. "But some MONSTERS are still... _sensitive_ about it, and would rather not remember what they — what _we_ — have lost. We had lived all our lives on the surface, but then we needed to learn to live underground."

"But what about-!" Asriel clapped his hand over his mouth and blushed, glancing back over to their sibling worriedly.

"What is it, dear?"

"But what about when we get out, mom?" He whispered, eyes shining as he leaned forward. "We're trapped now, but one day when we get out, we're gonna have to learn how to live on the surface again, right? So don't we kinda need to know?"

A wide-eyed Toriel blinked at her son in shock. She had... never thought of it that way. Chara's miraculous presence had brought renewed hope to the Underground — the barrier built through the strength of HUMAN souls, that was supposed to keep MONSTERS in, and, to prevent them from ever escaping, keep HUMANS out (2). Even though he had kept his explanation vague, they had been told by the Royal Scientist that this was because the barrier had to have some sort of weakness to it, or that there was some sort of error in its creation that might be able to exploit in order to collapse it.

But many had started to loose hope for ever going to the surface. Even the head of the Royal Guard - the 'Hammer of Justice' Gerson - believed that they should move on and not worry about getting to the surface. (3)

Could it be that, on some level, even _she_ had subconsciously denied that they would ever see the surface again? (4)

"I never thought to write down something like that before ..." Toriel nodded slowly, speaking more to herself. "We could make a book which details our culture on the surface. It might be difficult getting some MONSTERS to talk about it, but with the right author, I think its certainly feasible..."

"... so it _is_ a good idea?" Asriel whispered softly, drawing her back to the present.

"Oh, my darling boy," she leaned forward and picked her son out of his bed, gently setting him on her lap and then engulfing him in a hug. "Sometimes adults like me can overlook something like that. We can get so caught up in our past, or even our present, and not even think about something that seems to be so far off in the future."

They sat like that for a few minutes, just basking in the comfort of each others presence until Toriel rested her head on top of her son's.

"Oh!" She suddenly exclaimed, suddenly sitting up and jostling Asriel.

"What? What is it?" Concerned, he shifted so that he could look up at his mother, who was rubbing her jaw as if it were sore. Instead of answering, Toriel ran her fingers over the top of her son's head - who felt as if he were being noogied. "Wha- ow! Mom!"

"Ah-ha!" She triumphantly exclaimed. "Your horns have started growing in!"

Asriel froze in place from trying to wiggle out of his mother's lap and his hands flew up to his head. Toriel quickly stopped him from roughly slapping himself and gently guided his hands to the small and pointy mounds on either side of his skull.

"I have _horns..."_ Asriel whispered reverently. The development of horns was a big step in a young BOSS MONSTER's life, because it signified that his core was getting strong enough that they could start learning the types of magic that made them unique.

(It also meant the first milestone of many that indicated that she and Asgore would truly start aging, but this was her son's moment - she wouldn't spoil it for him (5))

"Mmm, and if you keep rubbing them like that, you're going to wear them away." Toriel teased him. He paled and slapped his arms to his side, making her chuckle softly.

"Alrighty, then. I believe it is time for someone to _goat_ to sleep," she said as she lifted him back into his bed.

"Ugh, moo _ooom_ ," Asriel wrinkled his nose cutely, making her laugh again as she helped him adjust his covers.

"Goodnight dear," she leaned forward to give him a kiss on the forehead, but, as she was standing up, she paused. "Oh... um, there is one more thing," she kneeled down next to Asriel's bed and ran a hand over the fur on his head. "I... I need to ask that you don't bring up around your father."

"Why not?"

Ah, how to explain it in a way that he would understand... "Your father still feels very... very _sad_ about everything that happened during the war. He used to have some very close friends who... who were lost, and they _used to_ mean a lot to him. They... ah, they were not... did not..." Toriel was struggling for the words for a child-friendly version of something that was decidedly NOT appropriate for any child to hear before bedtime.

(She had one child who suffered from nightmares, and she _did not_ need another one _thankyouverymuch_ )

A spark of understanding flashed across his young face. "Is it like what you said? About the people who would get sad if we brought up the surface?"

"Y-yes! Exactly!" She latched onto the semi-accurate explanation, trying to keep the relief out of her voice as she said it. "Your father needs to focus on other things, especially right now with the CORE, so we don't need to remind him of something that would make him... _sad._ Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I get it, mom. But, um... when we get to the surface, and we do have to talk about it... you don't think that he's gonna be mad about it, do you?"

"Oh, honey, of course not," Toriel said as she grabbed her son's hands and squeezed. "In fact, when it comes time to needing it when we're finally on the surface, I'm sure that he will understand - and it will save us all a bunch of time from explaining everything to our people as well! So don't think of it as a secret, just think of it as a... as a _surprise_ that we will both reveal when the time is right."

"Ok... that sounds goooo-* _yawn_ *," Asriel tiredly yawned as he snuggled under his covers.

Smiling softly, Toriel stood up and kissed his forehead, embuing a small amount of magic in it that it made Asriel's half-lidded eyes flutter shut. "Goodnight, my dear," she whispered as she stroked his head gently.

[-0-0-0-]

Glancing down at the ink-stained book in her hands Toriel rubbed her eyes and leaned against her bedroom door. She hadn't opened this book in... well, _years_. It was one of the few things she took with her after leaving New Home, and, after placing it onto the bookshelf, she simply hadn't thought about it. There were just too many memories associated with it, so her eyes had always glossed over it (6). Those few monsters who gave their stories, her dear friends who she had left behind, her ex-husband, _Asriel, Cha-_

 _No._ Toriel shook her head and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she focused on the then-and-now. She went to her desk and, after one long glance at the book, left her bedroom to go back to the living room.

"Ah, I am sorry for disappearing for so long," Toriel said as she strolled into the living room. "I was trying to... eh?" The room was completely empty. Surprised, Toriel frowned and walked over to the kitchen, but when she peeked inside, it was also empty.

 _How strange,_ Toriel thought as she walked back into the living room. I thought she was going to read the 'Snail Fact' book. The book was _I would have heard her if she had decided to go back to her room, so where... did... she..._

Her heart skipped a beat as her head snapped over to the front door, book tumbling back onto the armchair as she rushed to the front door. Had the older human already _left_?! But that was _dangerous!_ Rin didn't know about the traps, or how dangerous the other MONSTERS could be! She needed to find her before something terrible happened to her!

Toriel was rushing over to the doorway, and, right as she touched the doorknob, something unusual caught her eye. The eldest human's canine companion - she refused to use the poor creature's name (7) - was resolutely sitting in front of the stairwell and staring at her. The dog seemed to be extremely attached to Rin, and vice versa. He hadn't left her bedside when she was unconscious, and, while she was being healed, the unconscious Rin seemed to relax when she allowed him onto the bed beside her.

He seemed to be a loyal friend... one who, even now, moved to block her from going down the stairs.

Putting her hands on her hips, Toriel gave Dogmeat a serious look, who gave a sad whine as he laid down.

"That's what I thought."

**-0-0-0-**

"Hey, and in case a light bulb just started glowin' over your head, you can flick the switch and forget about it. You're not getting into that vault. Whoever lives in there sure as hell doesn't want what you're selling, and no, you can't knock down the door. It weighs like 13 tons."

— _Three Dog_ , Fallout 3

**-0-0-0-**

The mysterious stairwell led to a long hallway that disappeared into darkness - in fact, the only light in the entire length of the hall seemed to come from the stairwell (8) Which made her automatically reach for her Pip-Boy.

Again.

(Which was _fine_. It wasn't like she _really_ needed it. It was a shitty light that could barely even be considered a flashlight - it increased the screen brightness and let you see about a foot further than you normally could while making everything else dark and indistinguishable (9). She could live without it.

At least, that's what she tried to tell herself)

The darkness wasn't the biggest issue right now, however...

"Holy shit, I need to get my clothes back," Rin muttered to herself as she wrapped the thin . of her borrowed dress around herself, bunching the hem of her dress around her knees with one hand to keep the draft from blowing up it.

The worst part about it had to be the ice-cold floor on her bare feet. She hadn't minded walking on it at first - in fact, the quicker she moved, the less it had bothered her. But the further she walked, the colder the floor became - and now it felt like the stone was burning her skin whenever her feet touched down.

"Just get to the end, just get to the end," Rin chanted through gritted teeth as she forced herself to keep moving forward despite the pain in her feet.

The hallway - which was /too fucking long/, in her opinion - made a left turn, and then opened up into a large circular room with a double door carved with the same symbol on her shirt. The edges of the 'Delta Rune' (at least, that's what Toriel had called it) were chipped and rounded from age and wear.

 _So a cold and drafty hallway in the basement of an underground pre-war house just abruptly ends at a mysterious door carved with the sigil of the mysterious monster faction_. Rin scoffed slightly as she examined the door. _What is she, some kind of priestess? I wonder if I need to check my scalp for some more chunks of brain missing_ (10).

Rin put a hand on the door and pushed...

... and put more weight on the door...

After shoving the door with her shoulder with all her might, Rin stepped back away from it with a frown - and a cold shiver, when a gust of wind blew across her from the gap in the middle of the door.

 _The door seems to be too heavy for me to move_ , she thought to herself as she ran her hands over the carvings on the door, looking for a handle or even a button she could press to open it. _However, if Toriel is able to tear steel with her bare hands like she mentioned with my Pip-Boy, then maybe pushing this giant door open wouldn't be any trouble for someone like her?_

 _No, that can't be it - it's gotta be an exaggeration on her part._ Putting her ear to the door, she knocked on it to see if she could hear any hollow spaces inside, which would indicate that there was some kind of special lock to it.

*Bang ba-da knock knock* _Shave and a hair cut..._

... No, there wasn't an echo, so. maybe there was another trick to it, or a lever-

_*BANG! BANG!* ... two bits._

The howling of the wind from under the door seemed to go quiet as Rin stumbled back away from the door with wide eyes.

"so, uh, hey there." A slightly muffled male voice came from behind the door. "you, uh, didn't come to the door yesterday - _snow_ problem, you probably had... things to _dew,_ but i guess i was a little _flurry_ -d _._ are you... uh, doin' alright?"

The atmosphere in the hallway seemed to get thicker with every second left unanswered. She held her breath and slowly stepped away from the door, intending to head back up the hallway and back to the house.

On her next step back, she froze as she walked into something soft, warm, and _fuzzy._

Toriel put a hand on her shoulder as she stepped around the still frozen human. She raised a finger to her mouth in an apparently universal shushing motion before turning to the door and clearing her throat.

"Y-yes, yes, I am fine." When Toriel spoke up, it was as if the tense atmosphere never existed, the odd dread clawing at the back of her mind disappearing as if it never happened. "My routine was simply _shaken_ up for awhile."

"heh, yeah. really was a _quake_ -up call, wasn't it?" Even though he tried to make his words casual, the man's voice sounded relieved. "well, sounds like it wasn't your _fault,_ now that i hear the _magnitude_ of the situation."

Toriel started chuckling, and, before long, the sound of two old friends laughing together echoed in the narrow hallway.

And just like that, Rin once again felt like she was intruding on a private moment; but she also felt trapped. This was something that had to play out, so Rin couldn't move or risk drawing Toriel's attention to the fact she was still there (11).

(The cold was _really_ starting to hurt her feet, though, so Rin quietly prayed they'd hurry up)

The goat woman smiled fondly at the door. "I am glad to hear you are alright, my friend."

"yeah. i am too. so i, uh... i can't really stay for too long today," the man from behind the door said apologetically. "The cap'n's really been _hound-_ ing the guards lately, and even my bro's been busy. heh, i can't even seem to catch a decent _break-time_ recently..."

"Oh! Um, actually, that reminds me, I have another thing I must ask of you..." Toriel started slowly, glancing at the elder human nervously.

Rin, who had been politely looking back up the hall to give them some sense of privacy, practically gave herself whiplash as she snapped her head back to the other woman. What was Toriel reminded of - that she hadn't yet reported her presence to the 'captain'?

(The fact that someone was called a 'captain' made it sound like these monsters had some sort of military, and immediately made them much more dangerous)

"... of course. what is it?" The voice sounded tired, almost like it dreaded being asked.

"Can you please... bring me a bag of dog food?"

"what-! t-that's... um, y-yeah. s-sure thing." The voice sounded caught off guard, but Rin was just as surprised. She silently bowed her head apologetically towards the old goat woman, who smiled.

"Thank you." Toriel nodded towards Rin and turned back to the door. "I do have something that will work _fur_ now, so please don't feel too rushed to _fetch_ it."

"nah. i don't mind _fetch_ ing it for you; it's the _leas_ h-t i could do. in fact, i-" suddenly, there was a loud, electronic-sounding noise from outside the door with a rhythm that had a beat like an upbeat song. "ah, dang it. looks like the boss noticed that i _slipped the leash_. i better get goin'."

"Be safe, my friend." She said quietly as she put a hand on the door.

"... you too, door _belle_." The voice behind the door said. And, with that, there was a set of footsteps crunching as the man from behind the door walked away.

Toriel ducked her head to hide her blush (probably embarrassed to have been called a pet name by someone who thought that it was a private moment). And, as she turned her head away, Rin was _finally_ able to leave.

Rin used the wall to steady herself as she hobbled along the hall - all she could really do was stumble like a baby, because she literally could not feel her feet at this point. It had been easy to ignore the pain while there was something else she could focus on, but now it was completely unbearable.

 _'Superficial frostbite'_ , the clinically detached part of her mind diagnosed while the rest screamed ' _holy fuck I feel like I'm waking on acid'_ (12).

She had barely gotten to the bend of the corner - and, honestly, Rin may or may not have groaned aloud when she saw just how much further she had to go - when she felt an arm reach around her back to support her. As they made their way through the corridor in silence (thankfully, Toriel seemed to understand that she did not want to speak right now), Rin unabashedly leaned on the other woman, who put off heat like a furnace and helped stave off the chill that seemed to seep into her bones. Embarrassment about the situation could come later - for now, she was simply glad to be on her way out of Dante's basement (13).

The stairs were more difficult to climb, but, even though they had to move slowly, they eventually made it back into the entrance hall. Rin would have been fine if they had stopped there (the feeling in her toes would have come back at some point, now that she was back to a warmer climate), but Toriel kept a firm hold on her as she lead them into the living room.

"Sit." Toriel ordered as she stopped in front of the armchair - though, it wasn't really an order so much as Toriel removed her support, and Rin had no choice but to do as she was told when a particularly painful spark of pain flared with her next unsupported step (which was the feeling coming back) (14). So, while Toriel swept into her kitchen, Rin let herself drop onto the armchair. Leaning forward, she swung her left foot up onto her knee to examine the damage, and, though it was pale, the color was already starting to return, so she wouldn't be loosing her feet anytime soon.

Glancing up, Rin quirked an eyebrow as Dogmeat, who had immediately stood and followed his master as she made her way through the entryway, whined softly. "You had one job." Whining again, Dogmeat laid down with his head on his paws.

"It is dangerous to play in the basement," Toriel said as she came out of the kitchen with each hand holding a saucer balancing a steaming teacupss. "It is also very drafty down there, and, while I would have said you would have caught a cold, it was obvious that the cold was catching you." She glanced over to her feet pointedly as she handed one of the saucers over to Rin.

"Ah, well, it's not every day that I'm caught without my boots." Rin shot back, casually stretching her feet towards the fire... before pausing and sitting up straight. "Actually, do you think I could get those back? I'm going to need them if we're going to head out on our 'walk' later."

"MONSTERS are a _peaceful_ people." With one of her hands free, Toriel was able to pick up one of the kitchen chairs and place it facing the armchair Rin was in. "I hardly think its appropriate to be wearing a piece of armor specifically labeled 'for combat' while you are among us." Toriel stated with a severe look as she sipped her tea.

It took Rin a minute to understand what the other woman was talking about, but, when she did, her tea cup loudly clattered against the saucer as she put it down. "Wait, are you seriously not going to give them back just because they're called _combat boots_?!"

"There is no need to fight while you are here in the UNDERGROUND. You do not need -"

"But they're _my_ shoes!" Rin interrupted suddenly, disbelief lacing her tone. "And the term just refers to the style! If I'm wearing 'sneakers', it doesn't mean I'm a thief!"

"I'm sure that I have something you could wear." Toriel leaned forward in her seat. "But you would not have been injured if you had just stayed upstairs."

"I'm... That's not -" Rin let out a harsh breath. "Look, I'm sorry; I didn't know I was trespassing when I went down there. But you have to understand: after battling a freaky flower-vine _thing_ that wanted to rip out my soul, I wake up here with literally nothing - I don't even have my own _clothes_ \- being told that everything I own was left behind. Which I can understand - you were probably The clothes, _fine_ , they were probably shredded, and I appreciate that you gave me something. But these are /my boots/. I'm not asking you to give me a weapon, and I'm not trying to hurt anyone - just give me back my shoes. _Please_."

Toriel stared at Rin as she quickly drained the now-cold tea from the cup she had been given. Her eyes were wide in surprise, but there was also a touch of sadness or concern written across her face as she seemed to think on her words. Rin sincerely hoped she had convinced the goat-woman - she hadn't put much effort towards her _Speech_ skill, so it was probably a fifty-fifty shot at this point (15).

There was a clatter from both Toriel and Rin's teacups as Dogmeat barked suddenly, which had startled both of them into dropping their cups. (Rin was fine - she had drained her glass moments ago - but there was apparently still some in Toriel's, because she suddenly had a splash of water down the front of her dress.)

Dogmeat quickly trotted over towards the entryway, and whined up at something from behind the wall. There was a brief moment of silence, and then Frisk, now dressed in a green sweater with a single yellow strip across their waist, nervously stepped out from around the corner.

Rin blinked, and suddenly she wondered when exactly the sound of running water from the pipes stopped. _How long had they been listening_?

"Hey, kiddo!" She called out, raising a hand to beckon them over.

They hovered for a minute, wringing their hands together as they glanced between the goat-woman and the other human. Dogmeat, as if sensing their hesitation, whined and pressed his head against their side, which seemed to snap them out of their stupor as they automatically reached down to pet him.

As they started to walk over, Rin glanced over towards Toriel and frowned. Her eyes were wide open as if she was shocked, and there was a hand over her mouth as they looked Frisk over.

Why did it look like she had seen a ghost?

* * *

**-0-0-0-**

NOTES:

1- So, I'm not actually one hundred percent about this, but I've always thought that the reason Chara brought so much hope to the Underground was because they were proof that Monsterkind could actually one day escape the barrier - if the barrier kept humans out, they'd never actually get the souls to let them out, which meant they were trapped forever

2- This is my explanation for the barrier, which I touched on in (1).

3- This is based on what Gerson says during the Genocide route - he actually felt betrayed when Asgore declared every human would die.

4- Know how only Asgore is heard when the player dies? Isn't that a bit strange? It is setting up something for later, so… _Puhuhuhu_!

5- A bitter-sweet moment for Toriel. It is my non-canon explanation for why Asriel doesn't seem to be able to use fire magic like Toriel, or whatever it is that Asgore can do by destroying the 'Act' button. This is, of course, until the end of the Pacifist route, when he absorbs them and, thus, their knowledge. Again, this is non-canon, but this is what I think it means.

6- More set-up for later. Perhaps is associated with another note here? _Puhuhu_!

7- Honestly, I think Toriel would NOT want to call Dogmeat by his name. I think she would've experienced something similar to the player in Fallout 4, where the player character just sees his name as 'Dog' until you talk to Mama Murphy during the quest 'When Freedom Calls', or, when you help the Minute Men.

8- This is my explanation for the weird purple-ness of the bricks. In older games, darkness was marked by the color purple, so I think the hallway is just super dark.

9- What fallout considers a flashlight is kinda a joke. I mean, it's the equivalent of exploring a dark cave using your phone screen as a light. That's nothing - a true flashlight gives you distance. I have a flashlight that fucking reflects off the clouds at night, and, if we got enough of them together, we could probably replicate an aurora like you see towards the poles: the Pip-Boy gives you like two feet of shitty mood lighting and you still have to really squint to see anything at all.

10- This is a reference for Fallout 3's Point Lookout DLC. And I mean, Toriel _is_ kinda a leader for the monsters.

11- This bit is in honor of Bethesda's 'this a _scripted_ event, so therefore you must _stay here_ to witness it – and _no,_ you don't have a choice' thing they do every game.  
'But guys, there's an enemy beating me up!'  
'I don't care. Just listen to my really long exposition speech!'

12- Have you ever walked after your foot and leg had fallen asleep? I once had to sit cross-legged for about an hour and a half on the floor of a public bus just so I could go home. And, let me tell you, it was so painful, that I actually had to brace myself with other people's cars to get into mine. So, I channeled that experience, along with the time that I had to help get groceries out of my car, shoeless, and in under-thirty-degree weather, and was in a lot of pain when I actually went inside. Is it factual? Eh, I dunno. But this is _fiction!_

13- Dante's final circle of hell was a frozen wasteland. And, well, Rin _did_ fall down a hole, so I think it's appropriate to use it.

14- Yeah, know that story mentioned in (12)? It's really painful when the nerves reconnect, or are thawed after being numbed. I'm not a doctor or anything so don't quote me on this, but I _think_ it's mostly because the nerves are going through a type of debugging, where they 'flare up' because they are a little damaged, and report pain to your brain. Maybe also because you've gotten used to the absence of feeling there, so your brain needs to reconnect? Hell if I know – like I said, I'm not a doctor.

15- Aww, doesn't it suck when you can't actually see the probability of your Speech Challenge failing? Especially when you _don't_ have a HUD to tell you? Is this set-up for later, perhaps? _Hehehe_.

* * *

-0-0-0-

**OMAKE**

_[Inspired by the ads I've seen for Aggretsuko, though I have never actually watched anything from the series.]_

"Oh my darling, are you still awake?" Toriel asked gently, sitting on the side of her son's bed.

"Yeah," Asriel replied miserably. "I just can't seem to get to sleep, no matter what I try."

"Poor dear...," Toriel ran her fingers through the fur on his head. "Would you like me to sing for you?"

"... yeah. Yes, please."

Toriel cleared her throat.

Laying on their bed with their pillow wrapped firmly around their head as they tried to block out the (what their mother would have called) demonic noises emerging from their mother figure, Chara felt their eye twitching.

 _And you wonder why humans came after monsters_ , they thought as Asriel yawned and relaxed into a deep sleep heedless of the eerie and unnatural noises coming from their mother. _They sing_ death metal _to their children for bedtime_!

**DELETED SCENE**

_[So this scene WAS from when Rin would get her boots back. It was written before I started really writing the scene, and I took it out because it didn't really fit the scene anymore when I got down the page.]  
_

"Man your basement's cold." Rin wiggled her toes to accentuate their nakedness. "I'm not a big fan of walking barefoot, so do ya think I can get my boots back?"

Toriel frowned. "I... I might have something you could wear. One moment.

She went into the hallway, except she entered the first bedroom instead.

Rin raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Frisk. "Did she put my stuff in _your room_?" They frowned and shook their head.

It took a much longer time for Toriel to reappear from the child's bedroom. She came out with a pile of shoes in different sizes piled up in the front of her dress.

"Here we are!" She dumped them out onto the table top and started to pair them up. "These are all of the footwear that I have in my possession. We should be able to find a pair that is your size here somewhere."

The _adult_ human reached forward and grabbed a tiny tennis shoe that was easily the size of her palm. "Why do you even _have_ thes- ok, _no."_ She tossed the tiny shoe back into the pile and crossed her arms. "Do you have my boots, or was there some kind of _mysterious_ injury underneath that you took them off and left them there with the rest of my stuff?"

Toriel's hand hesitated over a small black shoe as she glanced up. "N-not exactly..."

"So what's the problem with my boots?" Rin exclaimed as she harshly gestured to the pile on the table. "All of these shoes are _tiny_ and made for small children! So why can't I just have my-"

"MONSTERS are _peaceful_." Toriel slammed the small pair of shoes down onto the table with force, making everything on it jump. "I will not have you wear something explicitly labeled for COMBAT while we are out there."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A.N.
> 
> This is took bit longer than I thought it would - I was really struggling with the ending!
> 
> I have a feeling that anything in the RUINS is going to be a little grueling to write - there's a reason that many other Undertale fanfics only have a chapter or two in the RUINS, and there's just not much material so early on in the game, both because you're supposed to leave, and that it's just a lot more scripted than everything else.
> 
> Heck, the boss fight with Toriel barely changes when you start the Genocide route - literally all of her dialogue is the same before that. There's not even anything really different about the scenarios in the RUINS besides the fact that there are no monsters to talk to. It only really changes when you get to SNOWDIN and see the recently-abandoned buildings.
> 
> HOWEVER: I think it IS important to extend it out, if only for the plot that I want to go for.
> 
> In fact, I think that my dear readers find the next couple of chapters quite... interesting.

**Author's Note:**

> A.N.
> 
> The Wanderer is based on a mixed setting survivalist mode: needs to sleep, eat, and drink, altered carry weight, and a similar repair system from 3, though Other Things are still being internally debated and decided later. The whole Fallout element will be a mix of 3 and 4, if only because I liked some things they did in 4 than in 3 and vice versa. Basically, a pretty reasonable survivor who travels lightly because of [REDACTED]... reasons.
> 
> And yes, she had a mini nuke launcher. If you want it justified, then A) you CANNOT tell me that you have never done the same thing, and B) they will also kill you about 20% of the time you use it anyway. I've kept a launcher and all the nukes I've come across for special occasions like when a particularly insane boss/enemies are absolutely flippin destroying me. It's always a last-resort type of thing, and has honestly saved my sanity when i get situations such as the "oh shit, I've walked straight into a boss fight and he's super strong" or "I've been destroyed by these (insert enemy/enemies here) for literally an entire hour and I'm going to go insane".
> 
> The incredibly motivated to kill you Deathclaws featured here are also inspired by New Vegas, in which I, the low-leveled and incredibly unlucky bastard, literally stumbled into two (when another came out from behind a pipe to became three) and, naturally, quickly died. Quicksave then brutally screwed me over by saving extremely close. In the end, only one saw me and ended up chasing me. I saw a little broken shack in the middle of nowhere with an Interior, so I entered it to escape. It was actually pretty well stocked, so I went around and started to loot.
> 
> Then I heard the door open. Guess who followed me in and saw me immediately. After that death (because I stood zero chance in my tiny gladiator ring), I loaded inside the building and immediately prepped it for a fight - aka minefield galore. And then, of course, that fucker never came in that time - because deathclaws don't use doors, except apparently when they do.
> 
> Frisk will be kept gender neutral, mostly because I'm just not gonna head into that rabbit hole. On that note, I am also looking for some gender neutral descriptive terms for them, because I can't keep using child and kid every time. It's boring.
> 
> Everything should become pretty clear after awhile, too. Though I haven't quite decided the level of Awareness that they have on [REDACTED], though I believe that [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]- *FNAF 2 static*
> 
> ...*cough*
> 
> Ah right. The rules. Sorry, but such spoilers are against my programming, and Reactions are harmful to my systems! But do not worry, because my normal hueman functions well be online shortly.
> 
> Ah speaking of!
> 
> ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER:
> 
> And to all those who look at odd crossovers and shake their heads - whatever! I like odd crossovers, so long as they're done well. I'll try to keep it pretty realistic and true to form, though you really cannot keep everyone happy if you want to be sane.
> 
> They're two different types of games fer fucks sake, not even the same graphics. You gotta expect some differences.


End file.
